MiniTec hits the sweet spot with golf ball sorting

It started with a simple idea: create an efficient, automated way to process second-hand golf balls. The customer needed a machine that could sort thousands of golf balls by brand, quickly and accurately. Not your everyday industrial automation task - but then again, MiniTec doesn't just do everyday.

Working closely with our colleagues at MiniTec in Germany, the company took on the challenge. While the German team focused on developing the core sorting unit, powered by AI vision technology, the responsibility for the hopper feeding system and conveyor fell to MiniTec UK engineering team.

MiniTec UK designed a robust yet versatile system to feed golf balls into the machine - a hopper with a capacity of up to 6,000 balls, built from the MiniTec profile range. The conveyor system was engineered for smooth, continuous flow, aligning with the machine's need to sort at an impressive rate of 100 balls per minute. Everything had to work in harmony - mechanically and digitally - to ensure each ball found its way to the correct brand-specific bin.

Once the design was approved, the team moved swiftly to build, deliver and commission the full system. Seeing it in action for the first time was a reminder of what's possible when engineering creativity meets modular versatility. Balls poured into the hopper, flowed seamlessly along the conveyor, and were identified and sorted with pinpoint accuracy - all within seconds.

For MiniTec, the real win wasn't just delivering on the technical brief. It was showing, once again, that its aluminium profile system is capable of far more than many people expect. Whether it's an ergonomic workstation or a highly specialised automation project like this one, MiniTec thrives on turning ideas into engineered solutions.