MANUFACTURING |
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Injecting performance with Schubert robots
Crailsheim. A complex packaging task: bringing together prefilled syringes, pack inserts, labels and carton blanks in defined compositions at ultra-high speeds.
Pharmaceutical manufacturer Solvay is also highly appreciative of the flexibility and reliability demonstrated by the packaging robots used for assembly and final packaging. The compact packaging system installed at the Solvay factory comprises six Schubert TLM machine frames commissioned at the company’s Dutch production location in Olst.
In terms of its functionality, this is one of the most extensive packaging lines ever implemented by Gerhard Schubert GmbH: four TLM-F44 picker stations and further F2 robot units deal with up to 330 unsorted syringes per minute. The syringes are identified, checked and sorted, deposited in carriers and then “further processed“ up to the final packaging stage internally in the system.
The first task is to transfer the filled syringes from the filling system. The unsorted syringes are taken from the continuously operating infeed belt at four TLM-F44 picker stations using a vacuum tool and positioned precisely in determined locations in erected cartons. The syringes are then identified by a Schubert scanner and assigned, depending on their length or the relevant filling volume, to a specific pack – either single packs or packs of 10. At the same time, as part of a quality control process, the Schubert scanner checks whether the pre-filled syringes are undamaged and complete.
Under continuous surveillance
In a parallel process, packs are created from flat blanks and fed into the system in the opposite direction. Three TLM-F2 robots fitted with erecting tools guide flat box blanks past glue nozzles, press them through the erecting tools and place them onto vacuum transport pushers for subsequent filling. Erection of the single packs calls for high-speed operation. Schubert found a solution by developing a special hotmelt application system. The packs of 10 comprise three sections: the tray, inlet and lid. By gluing the tray tabs onto the separating webs of the inlet, every individual syringe in the multipack is protected against unrecognised access.
Once the packaging boxes have been automatically filled with syringes and pack inserts in the filling section of the Schubert compact system, two downstream TLM-F2 robots fitted with closing tools fold down the dust tongues of the single packs, and glue the attached box lid onto the longitudinal side of the packaging boxes. A different process is used for the packs of 10, where closure is achieved by positioning a separate lid section which is glued down on all four sides. This ensures that tamper-evidence packaging requirements are adhered to for both pack types – making it evident whether the product reaches the end user safely without having been tampered with along the way. The remaining steps performed on the Schubert line include labelling and printing the packs using laser technology before they arrive at the final packaging station where they are packed by two additional F2 arms into automatically erected dispatch cartons and discharged from the system.
This high-performance machine concept – involving the use of around 180 servo motors – is supplemented by a particularly generous storage magazine. Twelve magazines containing blanks, for instance, ensure that the system is able to work largely independently. The pack insert magazines offer similarly high capacity. This allows the packaging system at Solvay to be manned by just two operators, who also work at the upstream machine and in the palletising area. A significant “side effect” of the Schubert system: the reliable, product protecting packs can now be manufactured out of mono material. Solvay has reported savings of 50 tons of plastic materials every year as a direct result of introducing the new packaging technology.
And tomorrow?
Combined with its toploading concept, the Schubert VMS machine control system opens up enormous flexibility. Solvay is currently processing both Hypack and readyfill syringes, whereby each syringe type is stored in a programme in the control system. If syringes with or without needles, new syringe sizes or different syringe types need to be processed in the future, the system can be adjusted or programmed accordingly using the VMS control system. The same applies to the different types of packaging: here too, both single and multiple packs have been implemented, provided they are configured according to the same design principle. A particular benefit offered by toploading is that the pack layout, i.e. the arrangement of products within the packs, can be variably arranged.
After a delivery period of 10 months, the compact system was installed by Schubert on site within four weeks. After a further four weeks spent commissioning this complex but easily manageable and accessible packaging line, the final acceptance record was confirmed and signed by the customer. At the same time, Schubert carried out validation of the complete system including the integrated printers and labellers on its own premises. Working hand in hand with the customer and suppliers, the packaging procedure was supported over a period of several months, by trained experts, up to its final approval.
Tried and tested: optimum efficiency
The packaging system demonstrates outstanding levels of efficiency. At Solvay the values of the individual machines are currently being recorded in order to determine the overall figure for the packaging line. Irrespective of the final outcome, it is already evident today that system characteristics such as quality control, product protection, packaging in mono material, operating autonomy through storage, and process reliability, combined with an output of 330 packaged syringes per minute, may claim to be outstanding technological achievements in the completion of what can only be termed a highly successful project.
Contact Schuberts at
Website: www.schubert-uk.co.uk
Tel: 01676 525825
