Servos Find a Packaging Niche

This quick, one-time registration gives you access to members-only site benefits. Although most pharmaceutical manufacturers keep quiet about their new equipment, servo-powered packaging systems are finally claiming their space on the factory floor. While these flexible machines have become a mainstay among consumer products companies, regulatory requirements have presented formidable barriers to their use in pharmaceuticals. "The pharmaceutical industry is just getting into seeing the benefits of the servo world — the easy changeovers that make it economical to do short runs and small lots," says David Blauw, electrical engineering supervisor at Bosch Packaging Technology (Minneapolis), which has built several servo-controlled machines for drug makers. "Instead of taking four to six hours to clean, autoclave, and change cams and parts, you can simply reprogram the machine, load up a different type or size of vial and be up and running in minutes." Servo systems are also simpler, cleaner, less prone to breakdown, and easier to clean, Blauw notes. The problem is that servo systems typically rely on PC-based control systems. They present far more validation issues than the PLC controls and mechanical linkages of conventional shaft-driven packaging systems. Yet many pharmaceutical firms are willing to go the extra mile to put servo machines on the floor, especially as they commercialize more specialty drugs requiring varied packing options, Blauw explains. "With cost pressures from competitors, insurers, and large buyers, pharma companies are looking for machines that give them more flexibility," he says. An electronic system does that far better than a mechanical system, Blauw adds. “Pharmaceutical companies may be hesitant to change from the mechanical realm where they're dealing with a known entity, but their production needs are forcing them to do it," he concludes. . This quick, one-time registration gives you access to members-only site benefits. Link to this article