This article was originally published in the ILM Milan 2024 – Innovative Technology Guide in September 2024.
At Mindhive Global, we specialise in high-end materials quality assessment powered by machine vision. Whether working with leather or other premium materials, we help keep your production humming without a hitch, always adapting quickly to operational demands without sacrificing quality.
Our clients around the globe, especially those in leather tanneries and manufacturing, trust us to ramp up their quality game. With our AI-powered, real-time automated grading systems, tailor-made for spotting defects that the human eye might miss during inspection and selection, they’re cutting down on errors, boosting throughput, and keeping their customers happy.
Automated leather grading is Mindhive’s solution to the inefficiencies of traditional, manual hide grading processes. Our system employs a Neural Network-powered defect detection process that identifies defects in wet-blue, white, and finished leather with accuracy far surpassing human capabilities. We then apply customer-specific grading rules to generate a precise grade for each hide we image. All our customers benefit from the same high-level defect detection, with only their unique grading criteria being customised.
Our system seamlessly integrates behind existing wringer/sammying machines, operating at full line speed—up to 360 hides per hour, and potentially faster. Mindhive’s automated grading system inspects and classifies hides within seconds, which can be displayed on an industrial screen for manual sorting or integrated into downstream automation systems such as auto stackers.
Tanners can generate detailed reports at the ‘per hide’ level, covering any metrics related to the imaging and grading of their hides. Our system can map percentages of detected defects across batches, average areas, cuttable areas, and specific defect classes, such as brands—the possibilities are virtually limitless.
Our software operates in two phases: defect detection and grading. The defect detection process, updated every four weeks, is common across all customers and runs on dedicated hardware at each site. This allows image generation and processing at full line speed.
For wet-blue producers, this precision allows them to confidently market ‘sorted’ hides to customers who previously may not have trusted their in-house grading capabilities. An additional benefit for wet-blue producers shipping pre-sorted hides is that end customers receive only the hides they want, rather than traditional tannery-run containers. This results in substantial reductions in carbon emissions and shipping costs. Producers supplying grading reports with their shipments also see significantly reduced claims activity.
For wet-blue consumers, our technology enables accurate sorting of incoming hides, facilitating reliable early-stage decisions, typically at the full substance stage. This allows tanneries taking hides through to crust and finished leather to better plan production, resulting in reduced overages, improved resource management, and substantially increased planning confidence.
Mindhive Global operates as a close partner with our customers, engaging in detailed scoping and pre-sales consultations to ensure our solution fits seamlessly with their processes and facilities. After installation, we continue to work closely with operations and production teams to help them enhance their production processes using the precise data and decision-making tools our system provides.
Our solution is delivered as a subscription service, meaning we remain committed to providing ongoing support and updates. This model ensures that we stay actively involved in ensuring customers get the most value from their investment. For large-scale operations with multiple sites globally, we help them standardise grading decisions across all locations, ensuring uniform quality and consistency, and enhancing operational efficiency and reliability.
We are rapidly expanding into the finished leather grading space, with our first pre-production systems set for deployment in Q3 of this year. Additionally, we are targeting high-performance textiles, plastics, and meat inspection through various industry partnerships. We will continue to grow our presence in wet-blue grading, consistently adding enhanced functionality, performance, and new capabilities on a weekly basis.