Romaco's packaging technology in action
Past: Marco Mandrioli
Bavarian pharmaceutical manufacturer Bionorica trusts in solutions from Romaco, one of the leading global suppliers of processing and packaging equipment, when it comes to automating liquid production – from depalletizing through unpacking and bottle inspections to cartoning.
For over 85 years now, Bionorica has been unlocking the healing ability of nature to produce herbal medicines that are claimed to be effective and also well-tolerated and very successfully too. Bionorica has grown from the original one-man firm to a global thespian employing some 1700 people and operating in more than twoscore countries worldwide. The owner-run German company has its headquarters in Neumarkt (Bavaria) and is mainly known for Sinupret that claims to be the nation's number 1 cold remedy in terms of sales, which is too available internationally.
At Bionorica's Neumarkt site, non-sterile liquids are filled and packed in glass bottles on two liquid lines for therapeutic olfactory organ, throat and lung applications. To improve the overall equipment effectiveness of its liquid product, Bionorica decided to automate various steps that were previously executed manually. In add-on to depalletizing and unpacking of 'safe packs' – foil-sealed packs providing maximum protection for several dozen glass bottles − feeding and inspection of the bottles are at present also fully automated, initially on one of the company'due south two liquid lines.
Furthermore, the thought is that all modules on the packaging line will in the future deliver the same loftier level of functioning. Although the filling machine theoretically has a maximum output in the region of 200 bottles per minute, this figure has never actually been reached in practice because the machine'southward capacity has so far been unmatched by the functioning of the other modules, notably the cartoner. It was for this reason that Bionorica opted to replace every module on the line apart from the filling motorcar.
Four of the modules on the new packaging line are from the Karlsruhe-based Romaco Group, which claims to develop, manufacture and distribute GMP-compliant, high-tech system solutions for the pharmaceutical industry.
"Romaco has a broad, premium-quality production portfolio – which is a great advantage when implementing complex plants like ours because information technology means we can source several machines from simply ane supplier," explains Howard Fick of Bionorica's Engineering department. "They also convinced us with good value for money, solutions that are individually tailored to our needs and prompt, efficient back up."
In the outset section of the fully automatic liquid line, the glass bottles delivered in condom packs are automatically depalletized and unpacked with the help of a Romaco Macofar MED 003 depacking system. They are and so passed to an inspection unit, featuring a new technology adult jointly past Romaco and Bionorica for detecting and removing faulty bottles. In the next step, the bottles are fed via a rotary tabular array to the filling machine, where they are filled with the production, fitted with a spiral cap and labeled. A Romaco Promatic PC 4250 continuous motion cartoner subsequently packs the bottles into cartons together with a leaflet. Finally, they are serialized with a 2D code and then packed into cases, sealed and serialized again by a instance packer-palletizer before being automatically loaded onto pallets at the stop of the line.
Servo motors in the depacking motorcar simplify format changes. In one case the prophylactic packs accept been depalletized, the Romaco Macofar MED 003 depacking machine cuts open the thermo-compress plastic packaging material with three heated, moving blades. Unlike conventional depacking systems, the MED 003 has a separate servo motor for every single movement, so that the unpacking parameters can be individually programmed for any safe pack type and stored co-ordinate to the format. The format change time – Bionorica uses thirty, 50 and 100 ml canteen sizes – is dramatically reduced because far fewer format parts have to be replaced with the MED 003 compared to depacking machines with a single, central motor.
Customized canteen inspection solution prevents damage to the filling machine
To prevent damage to the filling machine due to faulty bottles, Bionorica collaborated with Romaco to develop a simple, space-saving solution for monitoring empty bottles. This inspection unit, which goes past the name of Spectra, is necessary considering Bionorica uses blow-molded drinking glass bottles every bit primary packaging for its medicines. Well-nigh 1 or 2% of these containers are outside the tolerance range – for example, they are not exactly vertical or the bottom is as well thick. In the by, such bottles regularly damaged the filling machine, with lengthy stoppages beingness the outcome. "An inspection unit capable of meeting our requirements, with damage avoidance as its sole purpose, didn't yet be, which is why nosotros took the decision to interact with Romaco and design a new solution," Fick reports.
"Spectra is not only an exact-fit answer to our needs; information technology was as well much cheaper than whatever of the standard products on offer in the market, which in any case were manner too complex for our situation."
Cartoner with two-speed steps
The Romaco Promatic PC 4250 was integrated into Bionorica's liquid line as an advanced cartoning module that has no problem keeping stride with the filling machine.
"Aside from the very brusk ramp-up phase, the PC 4250 especially impresses with its ease of handling and straightforward maintenance," says Gerhard Garthe, area sales manager at Romaco and responsible for supporting all Romaco technologies in identify at Bionorica. "In practical use, the PC 4250 completes toolless format changes in under thirty minutes and stack heights tin be modified in less than x."
Each of the cartoner's drives – for example, for the infeed conveyor, the erection unit or the various closing groups – has its own torque limiter on the Promatic PC 4250. This is especially of import on canteen lines, where individual components are subjected to very heavy loads.
Romaco's customizing expertise came in useful in a number of ways while tailoring the cartoner to Bionorica's highly specific needs. Amid other things, it was important to Bionorica that the cartoner should have the ability to operate at 2 different speeds. In normal operation, the packaging line achieves around 200 bottles per minute, which is consequent with the operation limit of the filling machine. However, if the cartoner stands still briefly because a downstream motorcar has come up to a halt, bottles collect in forepart of it on an accumulation table.
They are detected by the sensors installed in the cartoner and the speed is then temporarily increased to 240 cartons per infinitesimal, to enable the excess to exist cleared. Every bit a result, the filling motorcar upstream from the cartoner is not required to interrupt operation and in that location is no loss of performance on the line as a whole.
Consummate liquid production is realized with Romaco technologies. The new liquid line has been upwards and running at Bionorica in the final configuration since the terminate of 2018. Bionorica predicts roughly 20% college productivity compared to the old line as presently every bit all the settings are optimized.
The company'due south second liquid line is nigh to be upgraded in the same way – starting with another Romaco Promatic PC 4250 cartoner, which is in the process of being deputed at Bionorica. In the future, the Bavarian pharmaceutical manufacturer's complete liquid product range will be packaged using Romaco technology.
Marco Mandrioli is area sales manager at Romaco
Source: https://packagingsouthasia.com/supply-chain-function/filling-sealing/romacos-packaging-technology-in-action/
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