User:PPOptica/sandbox

= P&P Optica = P&P Optica is a Food Processing safety equipment company based in the tech hub of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

= History = P&P Optica was founded in 1995 as a research and consulting company by researchers Dr. Romuald (Romek) Pawluczyk and Pierre Peltier. In 2004, the company split into two: FibreTech Optica and P&P Optica. FibreTech Optica specialized in the fiber business, and P&P Optica continued to focus on spectroscopy. During this period, P&P Optica did biomedical research as well as consulting work for the University of Waterloo, and built and patented their own spectrometer.

Starting in 2012, PPO explored a number of different industries that could benefit from their spectrometers. The company has implemented their technology in the recycling, oil and gas, and space industries among others. In 2015 the company shifted its focus to food processing and continues to work in that industry.

PPO’s Smart Imaging System uses hyperspectral imaging and artificial intelligence to read and understand food chemistry, detect foreign materials and assess food quality.

= Smart Imaging System = PPO’s Smart Imaging System combines hyperspectral imaging, artificial intelligence and data to detect low-density foreign materials.

Many different types of contaminants are found in a food processing plant, depending on the products being processed and the equipment being used. PPO’s Smart Imaging has been demonstrated to be especially effective with materials that other technologies are challenged to find.

PPO’s Smart Imaging System has detected the below materials down to very small sizes, at line speed in a meat processing plant :


 * Cardboard
 * Wood
 * Bone
 * Blue Acetyl Belt
 * White rods for belt
 * UHMW
 * Flexible blue belt
 * Rubber gasket
 * Orange liner
 * Blue liner
 * Cling wrap

The Smart Imaging system comes in three configurations :


 * A Single-Sided system (used to assess quality)
 * A Z-Configuration system used for larger pieces of product (for example, chicken breasts) which need to be flipped to inspect both sides
 * A Waterfall system which tumbles smaller products such as bacon bits or beef chunks, to ensure complete inspection of the product.

= Key Dates =


 * 2012 - Won R&D Journal award
 * 2013 - Won 2nd R&D Journal award
 * 2018 - Series A financing, named Clean Tech to Watch by EDC
 * 2021 - Series B financing