Page 12 - Energize November 2021

NEWS

Labelling processes optimised with modern inspection technology

ew industries are subject to such high-quality requirements
and legal regulations as the pharmaceutical industry.
FLabels carry important information such as the name
of the drug, active ingredient(s), manufacturer, and variable
data such as expiration date, lot number and serialisation
information. Establishing a valid labelling process is key. At the
same time, the processes should also be as efficient, fast and
sustainable as possible.
Steierl-Pharma GmbH from Herrsching in Bavaria, Germany,
relies on the support of OMRON automation experts in this regard.
By using a new labelling system with smart camera technology,
Steierl-Pharma can label its pharmaceuticals with high process
speed and reliability. These labels are printed with variable data on
batch designation, expiration date and if required, the dispensing
notice “Sample not for sale”. incorrect or illegible barcode as well as batch or expiry date errors
The producer has the legally required manufacturing license should be detected reliably. With an output of around 60 labels per
for medicinal products as well as the GMP certificate. The Good minute, the inspection system has very little time for the complex
Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certification guarantees process inspection tasks.
integrity in drug production and conformity with applicable
regulations. When it comes to filling and packaging the drugs, FHV7 smart camera supports testing and quality control
Steierl-Pharma uses a production line designed for around 3600 The central component here is the inspection system. With the
units per hour. help of the FHV7, the HERMA labelling machine at Steierl-Pharma
It consists of a filling and capping machine, a labeller and a checks the identity of the label based on the pharmaceutical
packaging machine. The line ensures a continuous and seamless code and verifies batch and expiration via OCV (Optical Character
process consisting of filling and closing the bottles with a Validation) for compliance with the specifications.
dropper insert and a screw cap. The closed bottles then leave the The FHV7 series smart camera provides illumination and image
cleanroom and enter the labeller, where they are labelled and then processing functionality for enhanced visual inspections. Due to
packed in a folding box together with an information leaflet in the its world-first multi-colour light and a powerful high-resolution
packaging machine. 12-megapixel camera, only a single FHV7 camera is needed to
perform high-precision visual inspections of the production line.
The challenge: To avoid unintentional machine stops and During the performance qualification the project managers
read errors involved were surprised by the extremely high specificity of the
In 2019, a project team at Steierl-Pharma began considering FHV7. “We could not believe how extremely reliable the OMRON
the replacement of an older labelling machine. “The labelling FHV7 inspection system is. As part of the challenge testing, we
machine used until then already had a smart camera-based deliberately introduced mislabels, all of which were reliably detected
inspection system to check the identity of the label and the – but with a throughput of several 10 000 labels, not a single good
variable data (batch name and expiration date). This however label was incorrectly read as a bad label,” reports Wegner.
had two drawbacks: firstly, labels were repeatedly misread as bad Another advantage of the OMRON camera is the software,
labels, and secondly, bad units were not rejected, but the labelling which is intuitive to use and does not require lengthy training. “I
process was stopped. This meant that when the machine stopped, also really like the option of a customisable user interface, and so
the bottles backed up into the filling machine and the packaging do the users. There is only one window in which, for example, the
machine ran empty. So, we had a ‘bottleneck’ in our process,” target code, batch designation and expiration date can be entered.
reports Steffen Wegner, Managing Director of Steierl-Pharma. Code verification and Optical Character Validation (OCV) can also
be performed. It’s all very clear and simple,” explains Wegner.
Requirements: Precision and speed The software runs on any current Windows system and
Wegner explains: “That’s why we worked with the manufacturer communicates directly with the FHV7 via the local network.
HERMA to find a suitable inspection system. The focus here was Wegner also praises the high inspection speed of the OMRON
on high reliability and pricing.” The aim was to develop a labelling system. The complex individual inspection of a label takes just 80
machine which on one hand met the high requirements in the GMP milliseconds: “That’s impressively fast.”
area, but on the other hand ran without interruption during regular
operation. One of the central criteria was that the new inspection Contact Omron Electronics, Phone 011 579-2600,
system should work with high precision – bad units such as an info_sa@omron.com, www.industrial.omron.co.za

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