Subscribe For Free! Sign up to receive the print magazine six times per year and the e-mail newsletter twice a month. Learn more >
Watch for pharmaceutical manufacturers to employ robotics more frequently to boost efficiencies throughout their processing and packaging operations. “We may be ‘OnTheEdge’ of a major growth spurt for robotics on North American packaging lines,” notes Keith Campbell, consultant and OnTheEdgeBlog.com blogger. “Mechatronics and robotics are two ‘disruptive technologies’ that have the potential to transform the development of packaging equipment,” adds Ben Miyares, vice president of industry relations for the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute.
We may be OnTheEdge of a major growth spurt for robotics on North American packaging lines. That is what some, including Ben Miyares of Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (PMMI), reported at a robotics conference held over the weekend leading up to Pack Expo in Las Vegas last autumn. I think that this is great news for packagers! Robots can provide highly flexible automation options and mitigate capital risk on new lines that may be installed to support the launch of finicky new products. I'm not as confident that the news is as good for the robot manufacturers. While I would expect them to experience a portion of this growth, packaging machinery manufacturers have several options for bringing robotic functionality to end-users.
Packaging a blockbuster prescription drug such as AstraZeneca’s Nexium blister- and wallet-packs (shown in photo) demands efficiency. At AstraZeneca’s plant in Södertälje, Sweden, nine robotic cells, featuring a mix of 16 robots from ABB Robotics and other suppliers, is providing that efficiency during case packing and palletizing on multiple packaging lines.
Synchronized lines, rather than individual pieces of equipment, will be a focus of pharmaceutical manufacturers, predicts PMMI’s Ben Miyares. In this exclusive Q&A interview with Healthcare Packaging, Miyares addresses multiple healthcare packaging-related issues, including mechatronics and robotics, which, he says, "have the potential to transform the development of packaging equipment." He also looks at sustainability, packaging equipment purchase considerations, E-machinery, and counterfeiting topics.
Pharmaceutical firms seek packaging line improvements to cut costs, biologics present packaging challenges, and medical device growth is driven by aging baby boomers. These treatment advances bode well for the healthcare/life sciences packaging community. Packaging materials need to offer protection from point of manufacture to the “last mile” where healthcare products reach a patient. Packaging materials must provide barriers for moisture, oxygen, light and heat, and they may include overt and/or covert security measures to combat counterfeiting and diversion. Equipment will need to package products more efficiently, be validatable and versatile.
