Product category:
Weighing and counting equipment
News Release from: Electro-mec (Reading) | Subject: Bespoke counting system
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 23 June 2004
Novel counting system guarantees correct
fill
A bespoke counting system that uses an infra-red scanning system provides a fail-safe method of guaranteeing the correct number of items in pharmaceutical packs.
Electro-mec (Reading) has designed a bespoke counting system to provide a fail-safe method of guaranteeing the correct number of items in pharmaceutical packs The system has been created for leading contract packer Brecon Pharmaceuticals for a range of products being packed for the Japanese market
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 9 Oct 2002 at 8.00am (UK)
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System counts and places blister packs at infeeds
Leading contract packer has installed an infeed magazine counting wheel system for the automatic counting and placing of blister packs into cartoner infeed slots.
Depending on the product, each bottle requires up to four moisture absorbing desiccants.
Stringent checks are carried out when the packs reach Japan and if any under or over fills are detected, the entire batch of products will be returned to the UK.
Due to its critical nature, Brecon wanted to retain hand feeding for this operation but combine it with a system that made the chances of an operator placing the wrong number of desiccants in a pack practically impossible.
The Electro-mec solution uses dedicated software and an infra-red scanning system to control the filling operation.
The system is programmed with the number of desiccants required for each production run.
Each bottle is conveyed in turn under a gated feeder into which the operator can only place a single desiccant at a time.
The infra-red system scans both the feeder and the bottle to check that the desiccant has been transferred to the bottle.
If more than one desiccant is required, it signals to the operator to repeat the process.
Bottles are transferred to the feeder on closed conveyors to prevent any tampering on-line.
If a misfill is detected during filling, the system 'locks' the bottle under the feeder and the operator has to physically lift it off the line in order to be able to restart.
Another safety feature means the line is automatically shut down if there is any attempt to alter the number of desiccants required per pack during a production run.
Once the desiccants have been placed in the bottles, they are immediately transferred via a bottle unscrambler and accumulator to the filling line.
This latest system further consolidates the strong working relationship between Electro-mec and Brecon.
"Electro-mec is an excellent partner," confirmed Malcolm Bowditch of Brecon Pharmaceutical.
"They have the ability to think laterally and use their extensive knowledge of tablet and capsule feeding systems to devise specific solutions for non-standard requirements.".
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