Date presence
Confirm that the complete MFG, production or packed-on field appears in the correct print region.
Manufacturing & production dates
Verify every manufacturing date against the active production job
Read MFG, production and packed-on dates in line, check the permitted format and relationship to the expected expiry date, then reject products that cannot be positively verified.
Control the date at source
Manufacturing-date inspection
A printed date can be readable and still be wrong
Manufacturing-date inspection uses a vision camera to capture the date or production code on every presented product. The system reads or verifies the characters, checks the approved format and compares the result with the current recipe, production clock, PLC or database value.
The same inspection can check a production date alongside an expiry, batch, lot, shift or line identifier. This prevents a stale printer message, transposed format or incorrect shelf-life calculation from passing merely because ink is present.
Format validation
Accept only the required DD/MM/YYYY, YYYY-MM-DD, alphanumeric or site-specific structure.
Value comparison
Compare the observed value with a recipe, PLC, production database or calculated date rule.
Relationship checks
Confirm that manufacture and expiry dates have the authorised order and shelf-life interval.
Supported date logic
Inspect conventional dates, compact codes and calculated rules
We configure the inspection around the code your customer, retailer or traceability process actually uses—not around one assumed date format.
MFG and production dates
Read a printed calendar date and compare it with the authorised production value.
Julian and ordinal codes
Interpret agreed year-and-day structures or verify the exact encoded string expected for the run.
Shelf-life calculation
Check that expiry equals the production date plus the controlled shelf-life rule, including agreed exceptions.
Inspection rule design
Define exactly what constitutes a date-code pass
A robust system separates character reading, business-rule validation and pack handling so each failure has an unambiguous response.
| Check | Typical rule | Failure response |
|---|---|---|
| Presence | All required characters are visible inside the expected area | Reject or stop when the field is absent |
| Syntax | Separators, character count and date order match the approved format | Reject malformed or incomplete dates |
| Calendar logic | The value is a valid permitted production date | Reject impossible or out-of-window values |
| Expiry relationship | Expiry follows manufacture by the authorised interval | Reject a mismatched date pair |
| Traceability fields | Line, shift, batch or lot agrees with the active job | Reject wrong or unknown identifiers |
Application engineering
Prove the rule using actual print and production exceptions
Before configuration, we document the accepted formats, time-zone and rollover behaviour, planned rework rules and who is authorised to change expected data. Samples from normal production and known faults are used to establish a stable optical setup.
Where several fields are printed together, one image may inspect manufacturing date, expiry, batch and line code. The practical limit depends on character size, field of view, product stability and the resolution needed for each field.
- All accepted date formats
- Midnight and shift rollover rules
- Shelf-life and exception logic
- Source of expected production data
- Product speed and spacing
- Reject confirmation and records
Related inspection systems
Continue from code reading to production control
Use the related pages to define the recognition method, source of expected data and physical line response.
Frequently asked questions
Manufacturing-date inspection questions
Final performance is established with representative products, deliberate faults and the operating conditions found on your production line.
Can the system inspect MFG and expiry dates together?
Yes, when both fields are visible at suitable resolution. Separate rules can read the manufacturing date, verify the expiry date and confirm the permitted interval between them.
Can Julian date codes be inspected?
Yes. The system can verify an expected Julian or ordinal string, or interpret an agreed encoding rule. The exact year, day and rollover convention must be defined before testing.
Can the expected manufacturing date update automatically?
Yes. It can come from a production recipe, PLC, manufacturing system or validated clock-based rule. Interface handshaking is designed so missing or stale data cannot silently authorise production.
What happens around midnight or a shift change?
The agreed rollover rule controls when the expected value changes. Production that spans midnight may use the calendar date, batch start date or another authorised convention, which is documented during specification.
Oxford Vision Systems
Make the production date part of the controlled recipe
Send your accepted date formats, good and failed samples, line speed and source of expected data. We will outline the practical inspection method.
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