Challenge:

During gypsum wallboard production, defects such as voids and lumps often appear as hot or cold spots. Left undetected, they can compromise board quality, increase rework, and waste energy. Traditional rule-based vision systems struggle to detect these defects consistently because of fluctuating factory temperatures and variations in board width, thickness, and material. As production lines run faster to increase output, the likelihood of voids forming also grows, making early and reliable in-line detection essential for maintaining quality and reducing waste.

Solution:

Eigen has partnered with Gyptech to help address this challenge of void formation. Eigen’s AI-powered thermal inspection system detects these defects in-line before the cutter and dryer, helping manufacturers catch problems early in one of the most energy-intensive stages of production.

Using high-speed thermal cameras and AI, the system continuously monitors temperature variations across any board width or thickness—from 150 to 620 fpm. Data is processed in OneView Cloud, where operators can visualize defect size, location, and trend data in real time.

The system also offers configurable severity-based alarms that connect to PLCs for immediate corrective action (light stacks or audible alerts). Operators can filter insights by product type, making it easy to adapt to different board compositions without manual configuration.

Operator vs Eigen:

A side-by-side look at how our vision system reveals what the human eyes can’t see.

Benefits:

• Energy Savings: Detects defective boards before the dryer, preventing waste of one of the most energy-intensive stages.

  
  

• Comprehensive Detection: Identifies multiple defect types - voids, lumps, hot and cold spots, with full sheet-width thermal coverage.

  
  

• Consistent Quality: Provides real-time board health feedback and severity-based alerts to help operators fine-tune process parameters.

  
  

• Scalable & Flexible: Adapts seamlessly to varying product thicknesses, widths, and materials—no manual setup required.

  
  

• Simplified Monitoring: Easy access to cloud-based defect trends enables faster decision-making, reduced rework, and improved process stability.