System Integration & Control Systems Design


Changeover in pharma production

August 2021 System Integration & Control Systems Design

The manufacture of pharmaceutical products requires a high degree of efficiency and safety in the manufacturing process. Production plants need to be flexible and so it is important to be able to implement quick and error-free changeover of machines.

Siko’s monitored position indicators and fully automated positioning drives make format changes in pharmaceutical processes significantly faster, with 100% process reliability and digital protocolling. The advantage of this would be optimisation of production and its costs, traceability and the retrofitting of existing machinery.

Monitored format adjustment

The process of erecting and filling packaging units needs to be carried out quickly. Time losses due to long change-over processes have a counter-productive effect. Failures during changeover also result in a high scrap rate, because of the high cycle rate in this manufacturing process. Bus-capable position indicators monitor manual adjustment and report errors visually and via bus communication. A production start with an incorrect format setting is therefore 100% excluded. Status LEDs and direction indicators allow for fast and precise setup.

Automated format adjustment

Compact actuators replace manual adjustment and enable format change practically at the touch of a button, quickly and safely. Folding boxes depends on the packaging size and material quality. The respective adjustment axes need to be changed safely and quickly. Compact actuators move to the new axis positions at the touch of a button. The next packaging size is implemented automatically and is 100% process-reliable.

Labelling/marking

In the course of serialisation and ‘track and trace’, the requirements for labelling and inspection have increased immensely. Even with format adjustments, these must be ensured every time the product is changed so that the labelling is also correctly aligned for the next repackaging. Otherwise, the subsequent test device can no longer correctly identify the product with serial number. Actuators ensure fast and safe height adjustment of the labelling module according to the size of the packaging.

A complete system from a single source

Siko’s Retrofit provides a self-sufficient control system for bus-capable Siko-position indicators and actuators. Retrofit is an option for manual format adjustment as well as monitored format adjustment or automatic conversion at the touch of a button.

Commissioning is done practically via plug-and-play. Source code programming is not necessary. The intuitive user interface makes operation child’s play.


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