Seam Inspection Solutions: Which One's Right for You?

Inspecting can double seams is an essential step during the packaging process to ensure your product is safe and ready for the market. With so many seam inspection solutions to choose from, which one is the right fit for your company?

Operators can use manual tools to check seam tightness, countersink, thickness and height.  Another option that moves beyond manual tools is a more reliable method of visual inspection using a system that provides consistent double-seam checks but without automated measurements.  Companies that require advanced measurement capabilities can use a comprehensive inspection system with predictive and preventive intelligence.

Without adequate information, the selection process can be a daunting task. Your choice depends on your company’s goals and needs, factoring in your requirements for inspection, measurement and reporting as well as your budget. 

Manual Teardowns

At a minimum, beverage canners should routinely perform manual can teardowns and use proper tools to check critical seam measurements including tightness, countersink, thickness, and height. It’s recommended to take these measurements at the start, middle, and end of each production run.

Manual Teardown Kit

Manual Teardown Kit

To manually inspect seams, operators will need tin snips, a utility knife, or a manual can cutter to carefully separate the can lid from the body. It’s important to avoid crushing or deforming the seam during cutting and to wear safety gloves to prevent injury. Once separated, handheld measuring tools are used to record key seam measurements.

What measurement tools are required?

OneVision’s Manual Double Seam Teardown Kit includes the necessary tools for conducting manual seam checks: a countersink gauge, micrometer, calipers, and machinist ruler.

Manual Teardown Kits are affordable.  This is a great choice for companies just starting out or working with a tight budget.  These kits contain the tools needed to inspect and measure seams, and they offer a good value for the price.

Multiple tools can be utilized with various types of cans. The tools in the kit can be used to inspect the double seams on both small and large cans.  The countersink gauge is customizable based on can diameter and lid type.  The micrometer and calipers confirm seam measurements are within specification.

Everything is contained in one protective case. The case is an ideal size to fit all the tools but isn’t overly bulky or heavy.  Protective foam padding safeguards all the tools during shipment and provides storage between uses.

However, this kit lacks automation features compared to more advanced inspection solutions. Operators need to calculate double seam measurements by hand.  And, prior to utilizing this kit, operators must manually tear down their cans which can be difficult and time-consuming.

Visual Seam Inspection

Visual seam inspection provides a faster, more reliable, and more accurate way to assess critical double seam measurements compared to manual teardowns. Optical measurement systems speed up the process, reduce inspector error, and detect subtle seam defects such as wrinkles, droops, or false seams that might easily be overlooked during manual checks.

Depending on the size of your operation and budget, OneVision offers a range of visual inspection systems equipped with high-precision video microscopes.

Portable Beverage System

The Portable Beverage System is another solution that offers brand-new technological innovation for can seam inspection.  First, the compact saw makes slots in the cans and then the high-precision microscope combined with a viewing screen allows the technician to visually inspect and measure the seam.

Portable Beverage System

The compact Mini Saw slots 200, 202 and 206 beverage cans. The Mini Saw quickly and effectively cuts beverage cans for conducting visual inspection with ease. Its high-quality blades last for 2-3,000 cuts before needing replacement.

The QuickViewer™ allows seam images to be captured and exported to a USB Drive for easy transfer of data. The built-in touchscreen lets the operator view and save the seam in real-time.  Using the provided flexible ruler, on-screen measurements can be taken to quickly calculate body hook, cover hook, overlap, seam height and seam thickness.

The 2-piece system is housed in a sturdy case so it’s truly portable.  The Mini Saw and QuickViewer are protected with foam padding, and the entire weight with case is only 25 pounds.  With this grab and go system, visual inspections can be conducted right at the can line.

While the Portable Beverage System is tremendously useful since it offers unique capabilities for seam inspection, it does not feature automated measurement software to measure and label the parts of the can seam. The Portable Beverage System only grants visual inspection capabilities with the option to calculate your own measurements.

SeamMate® System

The best-selling, most advanced solution for can seam inspection is the SeamMate System which offers beverage canners a highly-automated approach to inspecting double seams using patented technology.

While the SeamMate system is the most powerful turnkey system in the industry for inspecting double seams, it does come with a higher price tag compared to the Portable Beverage System and Manual Takedown Kit.

SeamMate System

The SeamMate’s Video Module combines multiple inspection processes into one unit. Along with a high-precision microscope for viewing the can seam, the Video Module also includes a built-in thickness gauge and a hand-held countersink gauge for calculating all can specifications and measurements.

As part of the patented technology within SeamMate, this system’s software automatically analyzes the can seam to capture measurements and calculate seam tightness. This information can then be stored in a database integrated into your network for easy transfer and analysis.

The complementary Manual Seam Saw produces fast, clean cuts on beverage cans.  The tab bender opens the slot for viewing on the Video Module, making the inspection process quick and easy.

So, Which OneVision Inspection System is Right for Your Company?

The Manual Double Seam Teardown Kit and the Portable Beverage System are highly useful solutions to consider. The Teardown Kit provides hand tools for seam inspection.  The compact and budget-friendly Portable Beverage System adds the capability of slotting cans, viewing seams on a convenient touchscreen, and saving images to a flash drive. 

For companies that require automated measurements and reporting capabilities, the SeamMate System does it all!  It is a fast, accurate, user-friendly seam inspection system.

After considering your company’s needs, requirements, and resources, select the seam inspection solution that’s right for you to ensure double seam quality.   This critical step will help you be certain that your company’s products are packaged safely for your consumers to enjoy.

Seam Inspection System Comparison Chart

Can Seams and Sustainability

Brewing beer is a science that brewers work hard to perfect and customize to fit their brand’s tastes. However, it’s important to remember the science of packaging when it comes time to can your unique creations. When a beer is sealed in an aluminum can, a double seam is formed that helps contain the beer. The formed double seam also ensures your product is shelf stable and, when formed correctly, minimizes your packaging costs and keeps your brand integrity intact.

Can Seams Save the Beer

On the surface, can seams may appear to simply be a mechanism for keeping the lid of the can on so that beer can be distributed, but can seams also play an important role in keeping oxygen out of the can. Why is keeping oxygen out of a finished canned beverage so important?

Oxygen, while a needed component during the brewing process, becomes an enemy to finished beer and must be minimized as much as possible. Oxygen reacts to various compounds that can affect the taste of beer. For example, hoppy IPAs lose their edge when oxygen oxidizes the aroma compounds and darker beers can get that “stale beer” taste when oxygen reacts with the color compounds.

Leaking Can Seam Example

Undergoing double seam formation during the seaming process, aluminum cans limit oxygen coming in contact with liquid over time. In fact, can seams limit more oxygen than even a crown closure on a bottle. As a result, when properly seamed, cans ensure more of your product is safely distributed and help minimize your product losses. As a bonus, making that quality seam can extend your beer’s shelf life up to 6 months.

Sustainability is an Opportunity

In 2025, there is a major opportunity in the beer market in the form of environmental stewardship and sustainability. Research shows that consumers are gravitating towards brands that demonstrate responsible brewing, carbon footprint reduction, and especially recyclable/eco-friendly packaging. Aluminum cans are infinitely recyclable without losing quality. If can seams are managed correctly, not only can you reduce operating costs and mitigate product loss but also you have the opportunity to resonate with Gen Z’s and Millenials’ preferences of beer brands that make sustainability efforts.

To maximize sustainability, breweries should create quality control processes that include conducting can seam inspections. Doing so will help ensure your canning equipment is creating those air-tight seams that will keep your beer fresh and shelf stable.

Fat Head's Brewery

We recently spent an afternoon with the quality assurance team at Fat Head’s Brewery in Cleveland, Ohio. For three years, Fat Head’s has been using the OneVision SeamMate® System to ensure their can seamer is creating air-tight seams. Check out the video to see what Ty had to say about the system and working with the Onevision team.

Automatic Seam Tightness™

Correctly evaluating tightness is critical to maintaining double seam quality, but visually inspecting the coverhook to determine wrinkle rating can be challenging.

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OneVision’s newly patented Automatic Seam Tightness™ measurement provides inspectors and quality managers with assurance that the visual coverhook inspection was accurate, or it can serve as an alternative to manual coverhook removal.

During the inspection process, SeamMate® software automatically calculates seam tightness by analyzing the geometry of captured seam images.

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The Automatic Seam Tightness measurement is available on all OneVision video modules.

Craft Brewers Conference

OneVision is excited to be exhibiting at the 2021 Craft Brewers Conference on September 9-12 in Denver, CO!

OneVision’s North American Sales and Services Manager, Kevin, and Sales-Services Engineer, Jose, will be in attendance ready to answer all your double seam questions and to demo OneVision seam inspection systems.

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This year we will be offering a free can seam analysis at our booth, #5046. Bring an empty can and we’ll cut the double seam and visually inspect for any issues on the spot. If you forget to bring your can to the show, stop by and sign up for a free can seam analysis mailing. We’ll send you a prepaid box to ship us two cans to inspect at no charge.

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We’ll see you at the conference!

NEW All-In-One SeamMate® Craft Beverage System Demonstration Video

We can keep telling you that dozens of breweries are utilizing the SeamMate® System to ensure their seamers are creating good quality seams. However, often the best way to understand a product is to see it in action.

Our newest demonstration video outlines the can seam inspection equipment included in our All-In-One SeamMate® Craft Beverage package and walks you through the steps of a typical beverage can inspection. In the video you will learn how the All-In-One System enables you efficiently measure countersink, seam thickness, and optically view the seam to measure bodyhook, coverhook, double seam height, and overlap.

Canning in 2020

Popularity - Canning in the craft beverage industry was on the rise, pre-pandemic. In the below chart, weeks 1-11 reflect what was becoming the norm in package mix breakout for the craft beverage industry, with cans making up 60% of the total market. However, with draft dropping off completely for most breweries in weeks 12-20 due to COVID-19 restrictions, cans further grew in popularity. As breweries begin to once again offer on-premise experiences, it will be interesting to see how the percentages shakeout. It is likely that cans will continue to outpace bottle usage with draft trending back up to around 8%.

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Can Shortage - Cans are so popular right now, sourcing has become a major pain point for breweries. As a result of heightened demand, Ball Corporation will build two new specialty beverage aluminum can plants in the U.S. next year. In the short-term, however, many breweries are left sourcing cans internationally or panic-posting on social media to try and score a pallet of the coveted aluminum container.

Canning Line Buyer’s Guide - Our friends over at Craft Brewing Business, put together a convenient Craft Beer Canning Line Buyer’s Guide for anyone looking to install their first canning line or upgrade their existing setup in 2020. We were happy to provide information about the essential process of can seam evaluation and overview our all-in-one craft beverage system for inclusion in the guide.

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT: The OneVision Mini Seam Stripper

Inspecting the double seam is an essential part of beverage canning quality control. Unfortunately, removing the cover hook for inspection is difficult and can lead to hand injuries. We often tell inquiring customers that if you can only invest in one piece of seam quality control canning equipment, start with a seam stripper. A seam stripper makes the labor-intensive endeavor of removing the cover hook a simple and quick process.

 
 

Focused on alleviating the difficult process of removing the cover hook by hand, at OneVision we’ve worked hard to develop a superior seam stripper. The Mini Seam Stripper is compact, has a can guide that makes for quick can positioning, and can easily be adapted to strip can sizes 200-307. The Mini Seam Stripper also has a safe start/stop cutting cycle, and a durable drive system means the machine requires little maintenance. Finally, manufacturing our equipment at our headquarters in Ohio allows us to quickly respond to customer feedback and continuously improve on our unique seam stripper design.

Learn more about the OneVision Mini Seam Stripper.





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