The Medipak Systems’ companies Dividella, Fargo Automation, Mediseal, Rondo, Seidenader, and Werum IT Solutions’ innovative developments received a lot of interest in a successful attendance of Interpack.
With first sales made during the trade fair itself, the companies met challenges of the pharmaceutical industry with innovative, flexible, and cost-effective solutions.
Key themes for this years’ Interpack included Industrie 4.0, overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) optimisation, falling lot sizes, increasing complexity, and EU Directive 2011/62/EU, which comes into force in 2019.
Dividella demonstrated its highly flexible NeoTOP x TopLoad cartoner, which was equipped with ABB’s collaborative robot for high flexibility in filling folding boxes. On the machine, which can also be controlled via a smart device, variable data was printed onto the boxes. Among other things, this data included the customer’s name and a QR code, which enables the customer to access a personalised website. Other boxes already pre-serialised by Rondo with a China code were read by the Seidenader Track&Trace system.
Dividella also presented its prototype for condition monitoring and predictive analytics. The current status of the NeoTOP x was monitored using status data captured in real-time. Using algorithms, the data was converted into forecasts for the ongoing evolution of the machine’s status. Critical changes within the system are detected promptly and a corrective intervention is scheduled before the discrepancy leads to faults or failures.
Mediseal introduced the new BE Blister Series and the P5000. The BE Blister Series can produce blisters with large draw depths, for syringes, ampules, vials, and pens. The P5000 continuous high-speed cartoner is Mediseal’s answer to the market’s need for faster cartoners. Both of the machines were sold during the fair.
Mediseal’s head of sales and marketing Borja Guerra said: "Our visitors at the fair were full of praise and confirmed that our new products are ideally suitable, cost-effective solutions for the special requirements of the market".
Rondo’s smart packaging solutions, based on the application of near field communication (NFC) technology and augmented reality for improved communication between manufacturers, physicians, pharmacists, and patients, generated great interest at the fair among both professionals and the technical press. Rondo also provided comprehensive information about the possibilities of offline serialisation in the context of EU Directive 2011/62/EU and new possibilities of demand-driven supply of secondary packing with the aid of the Supply on Demand solution, which Rondo has recently begun to offer its customers.
Seidenader and Werum IT Solutions also presented solutions for successful implementation of the requirements of EU Directive 2011/62/EU. In conjunction with a Mediseal blister line, Seidenader presented its track and trace solutions for serialisation and aggregation of each individual packaging level in conformity with the regulations. The ItemUnit Tamper Evident solution was demonstrated complemented by the CaseUnit and the PalletUnit to print and verify codes on folding boxes, in accordance with the respective regulatory system.
Werum IT Solutions presented its supplier-independent track and trace solution, which provides functions for serialisation and aggregation in packaging processes. It also integrates enterprise resource planning (ERP) and Global Repository with packaging technology and line control at production level. It is available as a stand-alone solution and if necessary can be easily and gradually expanded to provide a functionally complete manufacturing execution system (MES).
Seidenader presented a total solution consisting of its newly developed DE.SY.RE De-/Re-Nester handling system and a high-speed inspection machine. This innovation provides non glass-to-glass contact handling throughout the inspection process for containers conveyed in tubs. Fast and highly accurate Delta robots take over the filling of the inspection machine and subsequent removal of the containers. At the fair, DE.SY.RE was shown in conjunction with a VI-60-S syringe inspection machine. This trio of machines impressed potential customers with their smooth, continuous operation. Seidenader offers a turnkey complete solution, from a single source, for optimal inspection results at up to 600 containers per minute.
Another highlight was the presentation of Werum IT Solutions’ Plug & Produce solution for structured data exchange between production control software (level 3) and equipment in a pharmaceutical factory (level 2). This solution enables fast and simple integration of machines or automation systems into the production environment of a pharmaceutical or biopharmaceutical manufacturer based on Werum’ s PAS-X MES software’s new, standardised, message-based interface.
Medipak Systems’ chief executive officer (CEO) Clemens Berger said: "The visitors to our booth told us again and again how impressed they were by the multitude of new, innovative technologies.
"In particular, our solutions for digital, networked pharmaceutical production are generating massive interest. Plug & Produce by Werum, Rondo’s smart folding boxes, Dividella’s smart device, the prototypes for condition monitoring and predictive analytics: these are all Pharma 4.0 approaches that we shall be forging ahead with very energetically, for the benefit of our customers."
Once again, the Medipak Systems companies have seized the opportunity of the Interpack trade fair to present themselves successfully as innovative, reliable, and integrated providers of solutions for customers from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries world-wide and to set new standards in pharmaceutical production with their many innovations.