Harford Control & Etavoni to Showcase Smart Factory Innovations at PPMA Total Show 2025 on Stand B80

NEC Birmingham | 23–25 September | Stand B80

Harford Control, a global leader in Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), will exhibit at PPMA Total Show 2025, taking place at the NEC Birmingham from 23rd to 25th September. Visitors can find Harford on Stand B80, where the company will unveil its latest innovations in real-time quality, efficiency, compliance, and yield management.

Even more to see, Harford will be partnering with Etavoni, the automation experts, to showcase smart manufacturing execution, actionable insights, and cutting-edge automation — making operations faster, smarter, and more sustainable.

Harford Express Train with Cobot – Where Robotics Meets Smart Factory Innovation

During the event, Harford Control will showcase the Harford Express Train with cobot and Incident Camera – a miniature automated ‘production line’ demonstrating inline inspection and factory integration examples.

The cobot stops the train, lifts bottles, and uses a vision camera to inspect caps, labels, and text accuracy before returning them to ‘the line’ Date codes, barcodes, and 2D codes are verified in real time, highlighting how inline vision inspection ensures quality and compliance.

The cobot integrates seamlessly into the production process to collect miniatures, verify product materials, and return them to ‘the line’ if quality standards are met. This includes colour matching of bottle caps, pattern matching of labels, and validation of label part codes – all in a single check.

Launch of the Incident Camera

Harford Control will also launch the Incident Camera at PPMA. This system captures and records machine stoppages and quality issues. Linked to traffic light displays, it provides instant visibility of problems such as mislabelling, coding errors, or material usage deviations, while supporting centerlining, tolerance checks, and root cause analysis.

When the train is stopped and the cobot triggers its checks, it also triggers the Incident Camera – just like in a real-world scenario. The camera records the issue and feeds it directly into the reporting layer, providing real-time root cause analysis for teams to act upon immediately.

Interactive Terminals

Visitors can also explore two interactive terminals from Harford Control, featuring:

• Weight & volume control
• Barcode verification & vision inspection
• Efficiency monitoring, labour tracking for Short Interval Control
• LIMS, lab results & maintenance handover tools

Together, these solutions show how Harford combines intelligent MIS/MES software with integrated hardware to deliver real-time control, actionable insights, and complete digital transformation. From goods-in to dispatch, Harford helps manufacturers reduce waste, ensure compliance, and maximise efficiency – driving sustainable, connected and  proactive factory performance.

Event Details

• Stand B80, NEC Birmingham
• 23rd–25th September 2025

About Harford Control

With over 55 years of continuous improvement across more than 16 countries, Harford Control is a market leader in MIS/MES solutions for the food & beverage, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, chemical, and household goods sectors. Combining intelligent software with integrated hardware, Harford helps manufacturers achieve real-time visibility, compliance, efficiency, and yield improvements — from goods-in to dispatch.

Our modular or fully integrated solutions cover:

• Product Quality – Paperless Quality, LIMS, Materials & Process Quality Control, and Traceability
• Legal Compliance – Vision & Barcode Inspection, Autocoding, Machine and ERP/SAP Integration. Legal Metrology for Trading Standards Compliance.
• Efficiency – OEE, Short Interval Control, Centerlining, Live Reporting, Labour & Energy Tracking
• Yield – Weight Control, Fill Optimisation, Process Integration, and Waste Reduction

Trusted by leading brands including Unilever, Nice Pak, Church & Dwight, ECS, Crediton Dairy, Yeo Valley, Saputo, Müller, Loch Lomond Distillery, Edrington, Fenmarc, Lyons Seafood, Zorba Delicacies, Charlie Bigham’s, Baxters, A.H. Worth and many more, Harford continues to drive sustainable performance across global manufacturing.

Learn more: www.harfordcontrol.com