Flexibility in Texas A Single IPS Packaging Line For Eye Drops Does Two Jobs at a US Plant

At its plant in Waco, Texas/USA, Allergan packs single-use eye drop vials in cartons of various sizes, and also in sealed plastic trays. Previously these two packaging types needed two separate equipment lines, but for the last few months the company has been using a GMP-compliant packaging line which can do both.

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IPS International Packaging Systems in Crailsheim/Germany provided this innovative solution based on components from ten partner companies. A central management system controls all the equipment to provide trouble-free changeover. Allergan managers identified two aspects of the previous secondary packaging system as potential bottlenecks. First, increasing demand made it likely that the partly-manual system would soon reach its capacity limits. Second, it was not possible to switch rapidly between the two different packaging formats.

The eye drops packed in cartons are over-the-counter products. To provide retailers with a good choice, there are seven different carton sizes, measuring between 65 x 60 x 20 mm and 155 x 100 x 75 mm, containing 20–100 units. The prescription-only product is packed in a hermetically sealed plastic tray measuring 130 x 95 x 37 mm, holding 30 units, that protects the product from light. There is also a version for all pack sizes, including the cartons, without a patient information leaflet.

Turnkey project

The new packaging line was designed to handle up to 500 units per minute, rejecting products and packs that are out of specification. The inspection points specified by Allergan were the 2-D matrix code, which had to be printed legibly on the vial; proper sealing of the plastic trays; correct attachment of the label to the lid of the tray; a character code printed twice on the label; and laser marking of the code onto the folding carton. Finally, the trays and cartons are check-weighed before leaving the line.

Having worked with IPS before, Allergan asked IPS to draw up an overall design for the line, after which project planning began in fall 2006. The line was validated by the partner company ServoTech (Langenburg/Germany), and pre-installed at IPS’s site in Crailsheim so that everything could be tested under operating conditions before shipping to the customer. Thirteen months after the contract was awarded, the turnkey project was handed over in Waco.

For Ron Lentsch, Vice President Operations at Allergan USA, the ability to delegate much of the work was a decisive advantage. “IPS works very effectively, and our effort to manage this extremely extensive project can be reduced considerably,” he said.

2-D matrix is the key

The vials containing the eye drops are supplied to the packaging off-line, on product carriers. Five plastic portion packs, each containing 4 ml, comprise a single vial card that can be torn off as needed. A system supplied by Schubert uses a TLM F2 robot to remove the vial cards and lay them individually on a product conveyor in four rows. Four camera systems coupled with sensors check whether the 2-D matrix code on each vial is present and legible. In this and subsequent handling steps, faulty units are rejected.

The vial cards then move to a picker line consisting of three Schubert TLM-F44 stations, where they are sorted into plastic trays or cartons as required. This system also picks the required packaging material from carriers mounted on a conveyor running in the opposite direction. Pre-cut carton blanks have previously been removed automatically from a magazine, assembled, hot-melt glued and placed onto a sliding carriage or sled; the plastic trays are used directly from a robot in the carrier.

Different routes for different packs

The next steps depend on the type of packaging required. For the cartons, a patient information leaflet is added by an F2 robot in the next TLM system component, after which the cartons are closed. In the discharge area of the machine, a laser system supplied by Videojet adds a code to the cartons. These are then conveyed by another TLM machine up to a checking station where a camera system manufactured by SV Research verifies the printed code. Yet another TLM system handles shelf-ready packaging. Trays are assembled from pre-cut corrugated blanks, glued and filled with 24 to 40 packs as required. The packaging line then conveys the carton to the automatic closure device and from there to the next link in the supply chain.

For the trays used to package the prescription-only eye drops, the next station after filling is a tray sealing machine manufactured by Inauen Maschinen. Here the containers are hermetically sealed with aluminum film, immediately after which a camera system checks that the sealing has been carried out properly. In the two subsequent TLM components, a patient information leaflet is placed on top of the aluminum film and then topped by a plastic cover. Both of these components are fed automatically from a Schubert magazine.

A system supplied by Pago adds a label to the lid of the tray, and prints it. The printing is checked immediately by a camera. A further camera system in the discharge area of the machine checks the label for correct placement and verifies the printing a second time. Both trays and cartons are then shrink-wrapped in a machine supplied by Beck Packautomaten. Next, a check weigher integrated into the conveyor is used to reject packages of the wrong weight. After this, another TLM machine places the trays or cartons into shipping boxes assembled from pre-cut and glued blanks and closed on the underside with adhesive tape. in the final section of the line, the top of the shipping carton is closed with adhesive tape.

Flexible and effective

The fact that the line has the flexibility to accommodate both types of packaging, different packaging sizes and packaging schemes is attributable to the technology of the TLM system components. The design reduces the number of mechanical components, leaving the control software to configure these to the task at hand, and the system can process practically anything that the vision system is capable of recognizing. From the start, the complexity of the task made it clear that Allergan would require a custom-written central line management system to co-ordinate all the individual equipment items, plus the seven cameras, 12 scanners and one check weigher. Synchronizing the contributions of the ten partner companies was a particular challenge for IPS.

Central control makes it easy to change the logical configuration of the system to suit trays or cartons. With the press of a single button, the printer is supplied with the correct data, and the camera systems are updated appropriately. Mechanical changeover, including filling the magazines with different materials and retooling, takes about 45 minutes. Robert Lentsch is highly satisfied with the result: “It was our intention to achieve a lead in the field of packaging technology with German cutting edge technology. This was possible with IPS. We have a high performance standard and lots of freedom in future to introduce new packaging sizes and designs.”

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