Patent ID: 6912441

Claim:
A method for packing a customer delivery unit containing a predetermined plurality of spools, each spool having a filamentary product thereon, comprising: uniquely identifying each of a plurality of spools; recording for each spool information regarding a kind of product on the spool, a grade of the product on the spool, and a weight information of the product on the spool; based on the kind, grade, and weight information of the product, assigning to each spool an appropriate one of plurality of packing rules; selecting a predetermined plurality of tubes for inclusion in a customer delivery unit in accordance with the packing rule assigned to each selected spool; visually inspecting the filamentary product on a given spool to determine a first grade of the filamentary product on the spool; for each spool, recording the time at which the filamentary product on that spool is produced by the machine; sampling the filamentary product produced by the machine during a predetermined sample interval; analyzing the sampled filamentary product to determine a second grade of the filamentary product on the spool; comparing the first grade of the filamentary product determined by visual inspection with the second grade of the filamentary product as determined by the analysis recording for each spool produced during the determined sample interval the lower of the first and second grades of the filamentary product.