This case study details Schubert-Pharma’s automated solution for a small-component packaging task.
Better safe than sorry
Schubert-Pharma case study table
The company
Schubert-Pharma develops and implements packaging solutions for the pharmaceutical industry — ranging from primary packaging through to finished product pallets. The team comprises 20 pharmaceutical experts including specialists in cross-disciplinary consulting and internationally certified project managers.
The request
A large biotechnology firm in the Netherlands — which provides patients with medicines for cancer therapy or severe chronic diseases and metabolic disorders — was looking for a new system to pack vials and pens in different configurations in order to expand its capacities and modernise its packaging line.
To ensure simplicity, safety and overall patient compliance, the manufacturer not only offers vials, but also pens for a precisely dosed administration of a drug to battle high cholesterol. The delicate products need to be handled with extra-special care during the packaging process. Apart from glass breakage, the pens should not be activated prematurely during the packaging process.
Perfect picking out of the bulk box — the newly developed 3D camera from Schubert makes it possible. It detects the exact position and layer height of the pens by scanning the complete top layer in the bulk box after each pick of the robot. This image allows the pens to be taken out of the box with high-level precision.
Schubert image 1
Automating this small-component packaging task would open up the possibility of increasing efficiency and saving production costs. At the same time, the chosen packaging solution needed to offer a high level of flexibility and precise handling.
The solution
On meeting with Karin Kleinbach, sales account manager at Schubert-Pharma, the biotech firm decided that the Schubert TLM modular platform was the most advantageous option for the packaging task.
For this challenging task, Schubert-Pharma developed a combination of efficient robot technology and advanced 3D image recognition — both of which were key to the decision to partner with Schubert.
The benefits
Designed for safety
In the design of the machine, gentle, product-friendly handling was top priority: special attention was paid to avoiding glass-to-glass contact. To meet this requirement, the vials and pens are placed into fluted cardboard dividers or pre-formed trays within the cartons. Furthermore, only extremely low forces could be exerted upon the products during this process. A force of 60 N was the limit set by the customer to ensure that the sensitive products would not be damaged and that unnecessary production downtime would not occur. Should this value be exceeded, the machine stops to enable checking of the problem source and removal of the products from the working area.
The F4 pick and place robot picks up one vial from the belt and pre-groups the vials on the Transmodul.
Schubert image 2
The packaging process begins with the feeding of the standing vials on a conveyor belt which transports them to the F4 robots. A camera detects their position on the belt and simultaneously controls the presence of the caps. The F4 robot then respectively grips one vial from the belt and groups it horizontally on the Transmodul. The pens, however, are fed to the F4 robots in transport crates with 120 pens each on a separate conveyor belt.
In the carton erecting station, the blanks for the vials or the pens are denested from a magazine and erected. During this process, the pharmacode on the blanks is controlled and verified. Blanks with incorrect codes are rejected beforehand and do not even enter the packaging process.
The erected cartons are placed on a Transmodul and forwarded to the next processing phase, where they are loaded with trays or partitions. Just like in the first packaging phase, the blanks are fed into the machine via a magazine.
Gentle, product-friendly handling — the product is exposed to the maximum force of 60 N.
Schubert image 3
A combination consisting of F2 and F3 robots folds the partitions before they are placed into the product cartons. Sensors on the robot tool ensure that each carton has been provided with a partition or tray respectively.
Then the pre-grouped products — pens or vials — are placed into the cartons. In order to ensure safe shipping, the vials and pens are securely snapped into the trays or partitions of the cartons.
Precise and gentle product handling through spatial control
During the packaging process of the pens, a new 3D camera from Schubert, which was especially developed for this project, is applied. Transport boxes with 120 pens are placed on a table in front of the picking robots. The F4 robot takes the pens directly from the transport boxes and places them in pre-grouped formations. After each product is taken, the 3D camera scans the contents of the boxes and determines the exact position and layer height of each individual pen. These data are passed on to the F4 pick and place robot and ensure that each product, even if its position has changed following removal of a pen, can be precisely targeted at the next product intake. Empty shippers are automatically discharged from the machine.
Folding box with inside pre-formed tray: glass-to-glass contact of the vials during transport is successfully prevented.
Schubert image 4
In the next module, F2 robots pick the product leaflets from a magazine and place them in the product cartons. Prior to inserting the leaflets, the pharmacode on the leaflets is controlled and verified. Leaflets with incorrect codes are rejected beforehand and do not enter the packaging process.
In the final step of the packaging process, the cartons are closed and the latches are controlled. Incompletely filled and not firmly closed cartons are detected and ejected. A conveyor belt forwards all the controlled products to the downstream process.
The customer was especially convinced by the sophisticated technical concept as well as the scalability and resulting flexibility of the TLM line. “Feedback from the customer confirms that we are on the right track with our efforts: the vertical start-up, which Schubert was able to demonstrate on-site, impressed them greatly,” confirmed Kleinbach.
Exact placement of the pens in the folding boxes — here as well, gentle handling is a top priority.
Schubert image 5
Last but certainly not least, the Schubert-Pharma team succeeded in meeting the high demands placed on project management and the high-end pharmaceutical company’s challenging FAT and SAT conditions.
Facts & Figures:
A total of 13 formats (pens & vials)
- Pens:
- As one-count and two-count packages
- 75 cartons per minute for both 1ct and 2ct formats
- Vials:
- 300 products per minute infeed from the upstream labelling machine, up to 100 cartons per minute depending on the format
- Two different vial sizes (3 cc and 5 cc); option: 50 cc and 100 cc
- End-packaging product configuration:
- 1ct: 100 cartons per minute
- 3ct: 100 cartons per minute
- 4ct: 75 cartons per minute
- 5ct: 60 cartons per minute
- 6ct: 50 cartons per minute
Folding box for pens with patient-friendly 'flip-top' closure.