FEATURE u Inspection
Raptor Comib makes COP compliance child’s play
F
ortress Technology’s new Raptor Combi inspection system is assisting new Irish start-up company, Soothing Solutions, to
provide total peace of mind to parents enduring sleepless nights with one of the most common afflictions in young children aged two-years and up – sore throats and persistent tickly coughs. For Co-Founders of the natural remedy firm, Sinéad Crowther and COO Denise Lauaki, commissioning the installation of the Raptor Combi ensures full product integrity and COP compliance from the get-go. With global ambitions for the company’s new non-choke Tonstix concept – which launched to the Irish market in April – the dissolvable honey jelly pops innovation has been years in the making. Designed to promote comfort to young children aged two and upwards, Ms Crowther describes it as her ‘Dragon’s Den’ innovation. Emulating the benefits of a hard-throat lozenge,
she developed a honey throat soothing product that was appealing to young children, and safety was paramount during all phases of development. Simultaneously, the company set about creating a medical grade ‘stick-person’ shaped stick. Made of moulded plastic, recyclable once the child has finished with it, this was another Eureka moment for Ms Crowther, resulting in a Medrol-style delivery device that’s now certified in Ireland, the UK, EU and the USA.
THE RAPTOR REMEDY After partnering with Ms Lauaki in late 2019, Southing Solutions’ first hygienically flow wrapped packages of Tonstix rolled off the production
line in Co.Louth in March 2022. Every single product pack is inspected for contaminants and checkweighed by the company’s new Fortress Raptor Combi system, ensuring full HACCP and retailer COP compliance. Already winner of Ireland’s Best Emerging Business 2020 and Bronze Best Product at the National Startup Awards, listed in all of the major pharmacy healthcare and wellbeing chains in Ireland have been queuing up to stock the unique product. And with ambitious plans to collaborate with the multinational pharma companies, the Co-Founders intentionally selected an inspection system that would complement their production growth trajectory. The Fortress Raptor Combination Metal Detector and Checkweigher supplied by domestic distributor Advanced Packaging Machinery fulfilled this brief. “In all my wildest dreams I never envisaged getting excited about a metal detector,” states Ms Crowther. Considering the end user at every stage – the child – the inspection machine needed to provide the assurance of zero contaminations that could cause harm to a child… “No safety short cuts were taken.” Ms Crowther affirms that Kevin Gaines has been her favourite supplier throughout the entire manufacturing set up process. “The Raptor system went in seamlessly and it’s very user friendly. Frankly, it is the smartest piece of kit on our line. Nothing feels bolted together. The screen collates all the production data we need. It ensures full weighing accuracy, extremely
20 May 2022 Irish Manufacturing
sensitive metal contaminant detection levels, full traceability and exceeds all of our COP compliance requirements.” As a start-up, Ms Crowther readily admits to
having no previous knowledge or expectations of a contaminant inspection system. “The screen size and being able to pull the most important parameters to the foreground is brilliant,” she says. “How the Raptor Combi is programmed to factor in the weight of packaging and the stick to ensure that retailers are getting precisely eight grams of honey jelly pop is so critical. Same for the sensitivity of the metal detector and its ability to identify the tiniest fragments of metal. It gives us the ultimate peace of mind.” Fully integrated with the company’s flow wrap machine, operatives manually load five Tonstix per pack and slide the packs straight into the Raptor for inspection. At the other end, each box is packed onto pallets. Ms Lauaki verifies: “When we give a supplier a brief the hope is that they get it straight off. This machine was engineered to our exact specifications and went in without a hitch.” As Soothing Solutions scales up and enters
new territories, the Raptor Combi automatically fulfils all the regulatory and bureaucracy requirements. The only factor that may need to be considered is the aperture size of the machine. Says Ms Crowther: “Larger boxes may require a larger machine. Yet I have complete confidence that with Fortress and Kevin Gaines in our brand protection corner, everything is feasible.” Fortress Technology
www.fotresstechnology.co.uk
www.irish-manufacturing.com
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