A METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PERFORMING QUALITY CONTROLS ON PACKAGES OF SMOKING ARTICLES

摘要

A method is disclosed for performing a quality control on a package of smoking articles (101) comprising an outer wrapper (102) and at least one packet (106) containing a group of smoking articles and arranged inside the outer wrapper. The method envisages using a testing station (10) comprising: - at least one manipulator device (11, 12), and - at least one optical detecting unit (14), preferably an image detecting unit; said method including: - by means of the at least one manipulator device (11, 12), gripping the package (101) and positioning the outer wrapper (102) of the package in one or more predetermined positions with respect to the at least one detecting unit (14); - by means of the at least one detecting unit (14), detecting one or more characteristics of the outer wrapper (102) in the one or more predetermined positions.