This is reportedly done at a rate of 150 items/min. The equipment automates the pick-and-place of flow-packed test pipette droppers from a conveyor belt, and inserts the droppers into a case, along with a bottle containing penicillin. pharmaceutical company is using a specialized Flexa cartoning machine from IMA Industrial Macchine Automatiche that integrates two parallel ABB Robotics' IRB 340 FlexPicker delta robots. With that kind of precise technological capability, it's understandable that robotic skills are expanding into more diverse and complex packaging line applications.Īlthough it prefers not to be identified, a large U.S. In the competitive healthcare industry, hospitals advertise and promote robotic surgical procedures, for their ability to offer patients less-invasive procedures with shortened hospital stays. Lingle predicts, "We can expect more robots doing more amazing things with packaging in the months ahead-and sometimes looking eerily familiar doing it." The robot is extremely hard-working, efficient and precise, just like a woman, she added." A Motoman spokesperson attributed the robot's shape to the fact that there were cultural differences in the robot's origin in Japan. "This robot had a torso similar to a female mannequin, and two servo-driven arms. Unloading bottles from one case and placing them onto a conveyorĪnother robot shown at Motoman's Pack Expo Las Vegas booth, was "working on a small conveyor line where it was manipulating containers," says Lingle.Setting the case down and using each arm to load 12 bottles of product from a conveyor into the case.Using both arms to erect a lock-bottom corrugated case.The 15-axis DIA (Dual Individual Arm) 10 robot operates with human-like movement." Among the DIA's tasks demonstrated at the show were the following:
"Robots are proliferating, including at Pack Expo Las Vegas last October, where they could be seen in a growing number of booth demonstrations compared to previous shows."Ī good example of this, Lingle says, was at the Motoman booth, where robots "were faster and nimbler than ever. "Typically, these are large, industrial-looking systems doing end-of-line operations such as palletizing, although the speedy delta-style robots that resemble an 'upside-down-spider' are becoming more common for smaller pick-and-place applications," reports Rick Lingle, Packaging World's technical editor. They're also more ergonomic, requiring no lifting or handling of boxes," he continues.ĪstraZeneca's Södertälje, Sweden facility uses robots for case packing and palletizing, but future robotic applications figure to lend automation and efficiency at multiple points on processing and packaging lines. Siggelin expects the company's use of robotics to continue, as they provide "flexibility and 'digital' changeover. "Robots can be used for other purposes, as they are very general equipment."ĪstraZeneca employs nine robotic cells and 16 robots on several of its packaging lines at its plant in Södertälje, Sweden. "Robotic equipment can be economically justified in that robots are the same price as 'common' machines, but have better and more flexible functions," believes Lars Siggelin, senior project manager of AstraZeneca's Global Technical Services. That said, how do bottom-line-pressured pharmaceutical makers justify capitol outlays in robotic systems? Perhaps it's serendipity that an increased use of robotics in lifesciences packaging comes at a time when pharmaceutical manufacturers are under pressure to improve manufacturing operations (including packaging) to strengthen their profitability amidst expiring patents, generics, and other competitive pressures. "We think the future for the industry is very bright as more companies begin to see the potential for robotics and related automation technologies in their operations." "At our recent Robotics Industry Forum, we had presentations on the potential market for robots in the manufacture of fuel cells, drug discovery, and various service sectors, including unmanned vehicles," says Burnstein. Burnstein believes the majority of that robotic equipment sales growth in the lifesciences sector stems from packaging applications. , says that "among the best performing nonautomotive markets this year are life sciences/pharmaceutical/biomedical/medical devices," which RIA reports were up 20% in the first nine months of 2007 compared to the same time period the previous year. Jeff Burnstein, executive vice president of the Robotic Industries Assn.