Bottling Pills, Powders and Liquids in the Nutraceutical and Pharmaceutical Industries

Our goal at In-Position Technologies is to help you succeed in your process improvement projects. The Nutraceutical and Pharmaceutical Industries can benefit greatly by optimizing their processes with automatic machine vision and barcode reading systems for measuring, inspecting and traceability. Robotic Arms and mobile robots can also be used in packaging and palletizing applications to reduce operating costs and increase overall efficiency.

Machine Vision

For some applications, 3D vision systems can add more capability when inspecting product. The examples shared below aren’t from the bottling industry but the principles can be applied to inspecting bottle caps and fill levels. On the left the 3D sensor is measuring seals of yogurt cups. The height values are color coded. As you can see in the bad part the bad seal is detected when the seal is at either a higher or lower height level than expected. On the right, the 3D sensors are inspecting the fill levels of bottles and packages.

3D Vision Inspection

For some applications, 3D vision systems can add more capability when inspecting product. The examples shared below aren’t from the bottling industry but the principles can be applied to inspecting bottle caps and fill levels. On the left the 3D sensor is measuring seals of yogurt cups. The height values are color coded. As you can see in the bad part the bad seal is detected when the seal is at either a higher or lower height level than expected. On the right, the 3D sensors are inspecting the fill levels of bottles and packages.

Verify Packaging

Implementing Machine Vision will allows to confidently ship out correctly packaging and labeled product. Vision systems can ensure that all products are packaged correctly and catch any errors before it leaves the manufacturing floor. Some common inspection points for bottling applications include (but are not limited to) – shrink-wrap neck is present and placed correctly, label is placed correctly onto the bottle and inspecting the bottle cap is completely screwed down.

Fill Level

Cameras and the proper lighting can be used to automatically detect fill levels of liquids in bottles. This inspection feedback could be tied back into the fill machine to increase the fill level if not properly filled.

Traceability

Traceability allows you to track and trace products as they flow through your facility and out to customers. The process includes marking your product with a unique identifier (like a barcode or laser marked product code) so you can track the product through the manufacturing and packaging process. That data is then recorded allowing you to refer back to your documentation if quality issues arise. Not only is proper traceability required by FDA regulation but it will protect your company by limiting product liability risks and avoid or limit recall actions. Traceability helps manufacturers minimize errors, improve productivity and ensure quality. Have questions? Read our detailed Traceability white paper here.

Laser Marking

A key component to traceability is marking your parts. Label printers or inkjet printers have a low entry cost but their true cost of ownership can balloon with maintenance and consumable material costs. Laser marking can have a relatively high entry cost but create value over time with their long life (75,000+ continuous working hours), low maintenance and no reoccurring costs of consumables such as ink or label paper.

Sensor

Low cost sensors can be used for counting or triggering actions of machines in the production line. We have solutions for a wide variety of detection applications such as photoelectric sensors (part detection) , inductive (metal detection) and ultrasonic (liquid fill levels and part detection).

Packaging and Palletizing

Collaborative arms, such as the Universal Robot, can be used to package and palletize products and tend machines. In most applications, collaborative robots, or Cobots, can safely work alongside human operators with additional safety sensors or guarding. This decreases your robot cell footprint and reduces the cost and time for implementation. It almost seems like an oxymoron, but robots can humanize your manufacturing floor by taking care of the repetitive, dehumanizing tasks and allowing operators do more challenging tasks worthy of the human ability to think and create.

To learn more, check out the following case studies:

Cobots increase OEE at L’oreal by 5% by performing end-of-line palletizing

Universal Robots save Coty Cosmetics $500k annually by automating packaging

Mobile Robots

AGVs (autonomous ground vehicles) have been around since the 1950s. An AGV must follow a predetermined track – like a train. Often times this track is a barcode or magnetic strip in the floor. An AGV track is inflexible and can cause considerable downtime for installation. AGVs have recently been replaced with AMRs (autonomous mobile robot) which used LIDAR sensors to both avoid obstacles and dynamically navigate. What happens when an operator or obstacle rapidly jumps or appears in front of an AMR? It uses its Category 3PLd safety system to stop before impact and then determine a new path to go around the obstacle. What if a hall is blocked off? An AMR will determine a new path to its end goal. AMRs reduce the costs of implementation and increase flexibility for material handling applications. Mobile robots can autonomously fulfill material handling applications to streamline the delivery of goods throughout the manufacturing plant or warehouse.

Where might a manufacturer use an AMR?

• To Replace Forklifts or Tuggers for increased safety and productivity. OSHA records about 35,000 forklift accidents a year! These risks can be removed with safety rated mobile robots

• Deliver Raw Materials and Finished Goods to replace manually pushed trolleys and carts