Key Technology recently introduced the new artificial intelligence (AI)-driven FM Alert software for its digital sorting systems. The AI tool captures and saves digital images of critical foreign material (FM) contaminants that the sorter detects and rejects from the product stream. Data outputs from the software can be utilized to immediately alert operators and send signals to a downstream device. As Key’s sorters find and remove FM and a variety of user-specified defects, users can program FM Alert to act on specific types of critical FM such as glass, plastic, rubber, and wood.

FM Alert automatically captures and saves a digital image of critical FM contaminants that are timestamped and marked to identify the hazard. To address critical FM findings immediately, data outputs can be leveraged to drive custom behaviors, including notifying operators to the FM event with a visual and audible alarm at the sorter. Additionally, FM Alert data outputs can be utilized to trigger a gate or diverter downstream of the sorter to segregate at-risk product, allowing an operator to confirm that the critical FM was physically removed from the product stream.