PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY 33
and position it correctly in a box of 20 cartridges. Te most innovative robot application is the IRB 260 robot de-nester that became operative in March 2008.
Te IRB 260 anchors a new 40-metre packaging line for flu and meningitis vaccines that handles up to 500 syringes a minute and involves three separate operations, formerly done manually, risking human error. Flu syringes arrive from the aseptic department (after an inspection phase) in lidded plastic tubs, each containing a nest of 100 syringes. Te robot first removes the lid of a tub by vacuum, then lifts the nests and places them on a conveyor belt one at a time.
“Tis is a delicate step because a tub’s contents may be worth thousands of Euros,” Romani says.
Te empty lids and tubs are then positioned separately on a pallet. Te positioning has to be precise because, in the course of a year, several million lids and tubs will be handled, and GMP for the pharmaceutical industry requires strict separation of packaging materials and products.
Te telecamera on the robot’s head also matches the tubs and the contents through datamatrix code reading, to ensure that the right vaccines have arrived in the right tubs. Tis step is to avoid any risk of cross contamination. Tree verifications are performed, and if something is amiss, the operator is alerted.
“Tis ABB robot is over-sized and can handle much heavier weights than are used here, but it is perfect because of its speed and precision,” says Claudio Boncompagni, in charge of validation for fill-finish operations.
An added plus: None of the robots have to change clothes after their shift, since they never have to wear sterile caps or clothing.
In summary, the IRB FlexPicker 340 and IRB 260 robot de-nester
www.scientistlive.com
will allow complete control of tubs coming from the filling department; handle each nest of vaccines with the same level of accuracy; reduce safety issues close to the packaging machine; an automatic system with robots.
Tey will also enables better pallet management; additional control of materials; drastically reduced risk of cross contamination; reduction in manual activities involving a heavy ergonomic impact.
Merger Swiss-based Novartis (derived from the Latin novae artes, meaning ‘new skills’) was formed in 1996 from the merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, two companies with long histories in the pharmaceutical industry. In 2006, Novartis purchased the Chiron Corporation as the basis for a new vaccines and diagnostics
division. Chiron’s offices in and near Siena, Italy, became the new division’s research and development and vaccine production headquarters. Today more than 1,100 employees conduct research in Siena, and an additional 700 are involved in production at the nearby Rosia plant, with its brand new, state-of-the art facilities.
Novartis Vaccines is the only pharmaceutical company in Italy doing R&D and vaccine production. It encompasses more than 35 different vaccines for adults and children.
Enter 33 or ✔ at
www.scientistlive.com/elab
Claudia B Flisi is an independent writer based in Italy. For further information contact David Marshall at
david.marshall@
gb.abb.com or visit
www.abb.com/robotics
Below Novartis is the fifth-largest vaccine manufacturer in the world and second-largest supplier of flu vaccines in the United States.
Photo: Maurizio Camagna
“An ABB FlexPicker is used in
vaccines for polio. The FlexPicker’s advanced
process because it has to pick up each polio cartridge individually from a conveyor belt and position it correctly in a box of 20 cartridges.”
component of the production
vision system is an essential
packaging oral
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36