How SM Enterprises Used AI to Reduce Defects and Boost Efficiency
SM Enterprises, a leading private-label confectionery distributor, delivers seasonal chocolates and candies to millions of customers through major retailers. While their production line was 95% automated, one lingering issue threatened to undermine their efficiency and reputation: shrink seal integrity. Even small packaging defects, especially on transparent tubs with clear seals, could trigger costly product returns, fines from big-box retailers, and weakened customer trust. Traditional vision systems just couldn’t handle the job.
Automation Gaps
While most of the production line ran like clockwork, seal inspection remained stuck in the past, dependent on human inspectors to visually check packaging. This manual process was time-consuming, inconsistent, and increasingly expensive.
“Machine learning is superior to a human in a lot of the tasks where humans lose focus,” said Kevin Sun, SME Executive and Engineer. “People don’t have the bandwidth to process everything at once. AI does that at 240 frames per second. That’s a huge upgrade.”
Despite their best efforts, SM Enterprises couldn’t find a solution that consistently caught invisible defects until they discovered Maneva.
AI-Powered Quality Control from Maneva
Maneva’s AI platform offered something no traditional system could: real-time, human-like detection of subtle packaging issues. Once implemented, Maneva automatically scanned seals, detected defects, and removed faulty tubs from the line in real time. It also sent signals upstream to fix sealing machine issues before they became bigger problems.
Lower Costs, Higher Productivity
The impact was immediate and measurable.
- Manual inspection eliminated
- Labor per shift optimized
- Returns and penalties reduced
- Output increased by 5–10%
“Maneva made everything worry-free and consistent,” Kevin explained. “That’s a game changer in the manufacturing space.”
It didn’t stop at quality control. Maneva’s system also delivered operational insights by tracking employee movements, identifying inefficiencies, and improving floor supervision.
“It’s like having a general supervisor watching the floor,” Kevin said. “If your boss is watching, you work a little faster. Maneva ensured supervisors made their rounds and when you check the numbers, output ended up 5–10% faster. That’s hard to achieve in manufacturing.”
A Smarter, Simpler Path to Automation
With Maneva, SM Enterprises finally achieved complete automation without compromise, cutting costs, improving quality, and gaining the confidence to scale.
.webp)
