Automated, gentle handling of medications
Vials and pens
Accurate pick-up in the box: the newly developed 3D camera makes it possible. It recognises the precise position of the pen.
The F4 pick & place robot picks one vial at a time from the belt and places it horizontally on the Transmodul.
Folding carton with tray divider: this ensures any ‘glass-on-glass’ contact of the vials during transport is eliminated.
Folding box for pens with patient-friendly flip-top closure.
Precise placement of the pens in the folding cartons. Again, gentle product handling is a priority.
Gentle product handling: the products are subject to a maximum loading of just 60 N.
The Schubert 3D camera makes it possible to precisely pick products irrespective of their individual position in the transport case.
Requirements
Packing vials and pens efficiently, flexibly and carefully
Expanding capacity, increasing efficiency
A Schubert packaging line at a biotechnology company packs pens and vials efficiently, flexibly and extremely gently.
To increase capacity and improve efficiency, the managers in charge of a large biotechnology company were looking for a new installation for a site in the Netherlands that could pack vials and pens in different configurations. High flexibility and precise handling were important requirements. The Schubert-Pharma line successfully masters this special assignment thanks to a new 3D camera and the Transmodul transport robot.
Solution
How does the solution meet the requirement?
13 packaging formats for vials and pens
Gentle product handling is a top priority for medicinal products. Avoiding glass-to-glass contact is especially important. The Schubert line therefore packs vials and pens into carton dividers or trays. A particular plus point is the 3D camera developed by Schubert, which identifies the exact position of each pen. This ensures that each product, even if its position has changed consequent to the removal of another pen, is accurately selected during the next product pick-up. Schubert’s line not only handles the medicinal products extremely carefully, it also offers a high degree of flexibility: vials and pens can be packed in a total of 13 formats.
At a glance
- 13 packaging formats for pens and vials
- 3D camera for exact position recognition
- Support in packaging material development
- Gentle product handling
- High line efficiency
Precise, gentle product handling thanks to a 3D camera
On the conveyor belt, the vials are carried into the line. A camera identifies their positions while checking whether the end caps are present. An F4 robot then picks a vial at a time from the belt and groups the vials on a Transmodul. In the case of the pen format, the products are fed to the F4 robots on a separate conveyor belt in transport cases containing 120 products.
Here, a specially developed Schubert 3D camera is used. Transport cases containing 120 pens are positioned in the working area of the removal robot. An F4 robot removes the pens individually and groups them on the Transmodul. To ensure every product is removed from the case a 3D camera scans its contents and determines the exact position and layer height of each pen.
Carton blanks are taken from a magazine and erected. They are then filled with trays or carton dividers. Robots shape the dividers and place them into the previously erected cartons. Sensors on the robot tool ensure that each carton is filled with a divider or tray. In the next step, the pre-grouped products are placed into the cartons and secured in place.
Once the package information leaflet has been added, the final step is to close the cartons.
- Gentle product packaging into carton dividers or trays
- Exact placement of the pens and vials in the folding cartons
- The Transmodul ensures seamless transport
