Pharmaceutical Packaging Case Studies

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Project: Robotic Loader for Pill Bottles for large French Pharmaceutical group.... SEE VIDEO HERE

Before Tekpak solution, individual plastic bottles containing nutritional supplements were taken off the production line in batches in plastic trays. They were then moved to a packing area in batches where the products were packed by hand into cases, a process which involved 4-5 people.This often led to a back log in production as the production line was capable of producing 200/min but the hand packing process was capable of only 80/min.

Solution

There was very limited space in the packing hall and the system had to be specially designed with a particularly small footprint and to allow integration with th existing processing line. Using our standard Packman^® V400 Robotic Loading Cell we developed a compact footprint line incorporating a specially designed case erector and case closer all of which was built in complete stainless steel version.

Benefits

Now 1 person can manage the line rather than 4-5 previously giving substantial labour savings achieving payback in under 2 years.
over 30% savings on card boxes because the customer was able to switch to flat pack type rather than more expensive crash erect cases
80% increase in throughput because the robotic loader can keep up with the pace of the production line which manual labour was unable to do.

Technical

Allen Bradley PLC and Kenetix servo control technology together with an Allen Bradley 700 series colour touch-screen for the operator interface.
All electronic parameters are automatically set up when the operator selects the product on the HMI colour touch screen
Motion controlled system using brushless servo motors.
PLC with CAN BUS for distributed I/O
Stainless steel suitable for wash down environments

"the robotic pick and place system is working great, we are achieving the expected results in terms of cost savings and increased throughput, I would definitely recommend Tekpak" Laurent Borla, General Manager, Nutripharma Ltd

Pharmaceutical Packaging Case Studies

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