Lakeside's Random Lake facility processes frozen cut and cob corn and peas, which are shipped in 1,650 lb. totes to other Lakeside Foods locations for packaging or to outside sources for storage. The plant made its first foray into automated inspection in 1995. The first machine did a satisfactory job of removing defects and helped reduce the number of manual inspectors needed. But Pete Simon, general manager of the Random facility, sought a more efficient way to meet product quality standards.
"We were overrunning the old machine, especially with peas," noted Simon. "We were running about 50 percent more capacity than what the machine was rated. We had to have more hand inspectors."