A large pharmaceutical manufacturer in the Middle East was using a CAM NMX machine to package a two products that were high volume products.

The first product was being packaged on a thermoform blister using a vertical feeder. Tablets were repeatedly locking on the tracks due to large tablet tolerances and the maximum output was 26 index per minute or 156 blisters per minute.

The second product was being packaged on a Coldform blister using a drum feeder. Due to shape of the product feeding was limited to 24 index per minute and dust from the product was causing issues.

They customer asked us to look at each format and see how we could reduce the feeding issued while also increasing output.

An extra requirement was that in the future each format might move to a CAM M92 machine so any feeder that we supplied had to work on both machines.

The Approach

TEG first looked at the issues that the customer was facing with their current feeders in order to get a better understanding of what we could do to resolve the issue.

After looking into these and assessing each product we determined that an NG feeder that fed 2 index at a time would be the best solution.

We determined that due to the size of the first product, in order to feed at the required speed a feeder that only fed 1 index at a time would not give us the output needed as collection of tablet was slow. A feeder that fed 2 index at a time would reach the required output.

With the built in NG dust extraction, all dust from the second product would be removed meaning easer feeding with less blockages. A set of Double NG change parts were also needed to reach maximum speed.

The Results

TEG completed all FAT testing of both feeders at TEG with both reached the required feeding speed.

TEG technicians installed the new NG feeding system and provided on site training to the customers operators on the operation of the feeder.

Both feeders were installed successfully and helped increase production output to 40 index per minute, a 60 increase over the previous feeders. Duct collection was also successfully used which removed any downtime previously being experienced.

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A customers came to us asking us to supply tooling for a new blister they wanted to package. The material that was being used was APET. This is not yet common in the blister packaging industry. The reason for using APET was that unlike other common forming materials it is more easily recyclable.

From a tooling manufacturing perspective using APET for blisters provides some challenges, mainly on cutting. For materials such as PVC, when being die cut, penetration of the die through 50% of the material thickness is generally enough to get a clean, particulate free break. For APET, the die has to virtually cut through 100%.

APET material is also more damaging to standard punches and die as a greater force and strain is experienced when cutting.

The Approach

TEG first engaged with the APET material manufacturer to get all technical details on the specific material and best practices for forming and cutting of the material.

Extensive testing on the material in TEG to determine the optimum design for the new cutting tool.

The Results

A new cutting tool was manufactured with a range of improvements made in order to cut each APET material with a clean consistent cut all around with no particulates, these included;

• Ground Punch and Die to give the tightest tolerance when cutting – removing the issue of particulates
• New punch shear angle to give best results
• Extra hardened steel used for punches and die to increase life cycle of tool
• High precision cutting tool pillars, ball cages and bushings to ensure most accurate punching

The post High Precision Cutting Tool – APET Recyclable Material appeared first on TEG.

A large pharmaceutical manufacturer in the Middle East purchased a new packaging line, a Mediseal CP2 machine to package high value products in a new Oncology facility. Five new OEM sets of tooling were supplied with the blister machine. However, no feeders were supplied at the time.

Forming speed of the machine had to be reduced by over 50% on all formats as each format was being manually fed. Output achieved with manual feeding was 24 index per minute, compared with the OEM advised 50 index per minute for forming speed. This massively reduced the customers expected output.

TEG were asked to assist with this issue and propose a feeding method that would help maximise output and keep up with the maximum forming speed.

The Approach

TEG analysed several aspects of the project to see what method could give the customer the greatest added value.

Several key metrics were taken into account such as line efficiency, maximum output, return on investment (ROI) and change over speed.

After reviewing the options for this project, we determined that the best solution for this project would be to use a NG feeder.

The Results

The end result met all our customers’ requirements.

• Feeding speeds had increased by just over 100% over manual feeding and kept up with the maximum forming speeds of the machine.
• Feeder change over times between formats were kept below 10 minutes due to the simple change over mechanism on the NG feeder
• ROI was realised in under 6 months as output was maximised and there was now 1 less operator needed per production run.

The post 100% increase in output using the NG Feeder appeared first on TEG.