automated packaging of surgical needle - suture assemblies includes a framing operation in which adjacent sheets of polymer coated aluminum foils are conveyed through a sequence of steps in an apparatus which produces frames containing plastic packets of needle - suture assemblies . a vision system having video cameras connected to a specially adapted computer enables monitoring the product traveling through the framing operation to detect various defects in the foil and in the product formation . upon detection of a defect , the computer system can either identify and separate rejected product from good product or shut down the apparatus .