Manufacturing technology The value of
How do you see the need and growth for certain packaging containers in healthcare? Sebastien Lagarde: Worldwide drug consumption is growing every year due to the growth of the population and accessibility in healthcare. In consequence, the need of standard RTU (ready to use) containers, such as syringes and vials has increased, and automation in the manufacturing of these containers has grown in response to the increased demand. The current pandemic gave further impetus for this growth and led to massive short- term demand for automated production lines, which we’ve had to assemble in short time frames during these past two years.
In practice, how are robots applied throughout the automated production line? When it comes to glass containers, we can divide the robotics application into two parts. In the upstream area, robots are used in harsh and abrasive environments for tasks like glass cutting, heat forming and feeding annealing tunnels. The robots used throughout these applications must be compliant with dusty and warm areas. On the downstream area, we perform assembly and packaging usually in a cleanroom environment, where the robots must comply with ISO 5. Each step or the process subjected to automated quality control. In some cases, robotics is also used for the washing of the product. In consequence, there could be a requirement to be compatible in wet environments too.
Plastic parts are also still frequently used, and in this area, we see a lot of robotics applied for tasks such as unloading injection moulding machines, deburring parts and again, quality control.
robotic automation
Robotics play a crucial role in automation, and manufacturers continue to embrace them with an aim both to reduce cost and increase efficiency. Stäubli global pharma and medical market leader Sebastien Lagarde, explains how demand for robotics in the manufacturing of drug packaging material is increasing, and how the company is preparing to meet future challenges.
Due to the need for cleanrooms during plastic production and sometimes processing under laminar flow, these robots should also comply with ISO 5.
Has the increased use of robotic automation led to more regulatory scrutiny? The type of robot used in cleanroom areas is not new, and the level of regulatory requirements for producing packaging is still low compared to other types of manufacturing, such as semiconductor production. The pharma industry sees more regulatory restraints when it comes to filling these containers with drugs, but that usually happens within an isolator in the pharmaceutical production factory and is not really a responsibility of container manufacturers.
When it comes to the production of containers, requirements are strict on the quality of the raw material used, depending on its application. For example, the specification of glass used for pharmaceutical drug containers is different than glass used for consumer goods. From a robotics point of view, the consequence of this high-quality expectation led to the usage of robots that have quality control measures integrated at each step of the process line, all of which record data to ensure there’s a high level of traceability to meet regulatory requirements.
Has the growing complexity of drug delivery devices like wearables led to challenges in robotics-based automation? We clearly see new trends for packaging materials for wearable devices as new drug delivery systems like patches have become more common. With standard containers, we clearly separate the assembly of the
Medical Device Developments /
www.nsmedicaldevices.com
device and the filling, but with these new systems, all the steps are made in one single area, and usually in an aseptic environment that makes the building of the machine more complex, giving the robot a higher added value.
In addition, we see a future requirement of wearable and connected devices. They will deliver the right amount of drug to the patient according to their current health status, and will send the information directly to the doctor and hospital for live monitoring. We can imagine we will have to deal in the future with both the assembly of electronics components and the packaging material in the same aseptic environment.
How are robotics suppliers poised to meet this challenge?
The challenges for robotics stay the same: Combining high speed manufacturing to meet an increasing product demand and align all systems with the quality control expectations of regulators. The focus for the future is to always stay one step ahead in terms of cleanability and compatibility with the environment. There are robots with the ability to be cleaned using vaporised hydrogen peroxide, but there is always room for improvement with a more hygienic design and cleaning capabilities. As the trend for connected devices grows, there is a need for robots designed to prevent electrostatic discharges, which can damage electronic components at any stage of production or application if they are not controlled.
Offering this sort of flexibility to our partners is our goal, with a full range of six and four axis robots, a wide range of payload and reach, all compliant with the environment of production. ●
www.staubli.com 55
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 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128
