Robotic Rx finds growth in pharmaceutical packaging

Welcome to the evolution of robotics in packaging, where "we may be 'OnTheEdge' of a major growth spurt for robotics on North American packaging lines," notes Keith Campbell, consultant and OnTheEdge.com blogger (see story, page 18).

"Mechatronics and robotics are two 'disruptive technologies' (see sidebar below) 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 (www.pmmi.org). Jeff Burnstein, executive vice president of the Robotic Industries Assn. (www.roboticsonline.com), says that "among the best performing nonautomotive markets this year are life sciences/pharmaceutical/biomedical/medical devices," which RIA reports were up 20% in the first nine months of 2007 compared to the same time period the previous year. Burnstein believes the majority of that robotic equipment sales growth in the lifesciences sector stems from packaging applications.

"At our recent Robotics Industry Forum, we had presentations on the potential market for robots in the manufacture of fuel cells, drug discovery, and various service sectors, including unmanned vehicles," says Burnstein. "We think the future for the industry is very bright as more companies begin to see the potential for robotics and related automation technologies in their operations."

Perhaps it's serendipity that an increased use of robotics in lifesciences packaging comes at a time when pharmaceutical manufacturers are under pressure to improve manufacturing operations (including packaging) to strengthen their profitability amidst expiring patents, generics, and other competitive and economic pressures.

That said, how do bottom-line-pressured pharmaceutical makers justify capital outlays in robotic systems?

"Robotic equipment can be economically justified in that robots are the same price as 'common' machines, but have better and more flexible functions," believes Lars Siggelin, senior project manager of AstraZeneca's Global Technical Services. "Robots can be used for other purposes, as they are very general equipment."

AstraZeneca employs nine robotic cells and 16 robots on several of its packaging lines at its plant in Södertälje, Sweden (see story, page 24). Siggelin expects the company's use of robotics to continue, as they provide "'flexibility and digital' changeover. They're also more ergonomic, requiring no [manual] lifting or handling of boxes," he continues.

Robots not just for 'end of line'

AstraZeneca's Södertälje, Sweden facility uses robots for case packing and palletizing, but future robotic applications figure to lend automation and efficiency at multiple points on processing and packaging lines.

"Typically, these [robots] are large, industrial-looking systems doing end-of-line operations such as palletizing, although the speedy delta-style robots that resemble an 'upside-down-spider' are becoming more common for smaller pick-and-place applications," reports Rick Lingle, Packaging World's technical editor. "Robots are proliferating, including at Pack Expo Las Vegas last October, where they could be seen in a growing number of booth demonstrations compared to previous shows."

A good example of this, Lingle says, was at the Motoman (www.motoman.com) booth, where robots "were faster and nimbler than ever. The 15-axis DIA (Dual Individual Arm) 10 robot operates with human-like movement." Among the DIA's tasks demonstrated at the show were the following:

• Using both arms to erect a lock-bottom corrugated case

• Setting the case down and using each arm to load 12 bottles of product from a conveyor into the case

• Unloading bottles from one case and placing them onto a conveyor

Another robot shown at Motoman's Pack Expo Las Vegas booth was "working on a small conveyor line where it was manipulating containers," says Lingle. "This robot had a torso similar to a female mannequin, and two servo-driven arms. A Motoman spokesperson attributed the robot's shape to the fact that there were cultural differences in the robot's origin in Japan. The robot is extremely hard-working, efficient and precise, just like a woman, she added."

Lingle predicts, "We can expect more robots doing more amazing things with packaging in the months ahead-and sometimes looking eerily familiar doing it."

Precise picking application

In the competitive healthcare industry, hospitals advertise and promote robotic surgical procedures, for their ability to offer patients less-invasive procedures with shortened hospital stays. With that kind of precise technological capability, it's understandable that robotic skills are expanding into more diverse and complex packaging line applications.

Although it prefers not to be identified, a large U.S. pharmaceutical company is using a specialized Flexa cartoning machine from IMA Industrial Macchine Automatiche (www.ima.it) that integrates two parallel ABB Robotics' (www.abb.com) IRB 340 FlexPicker delta robots. The equipment automates the pick-and-place of flow-packed test pipette droppers from a conveyor belt, and inserts the droppers into a case, along with a bottle containing penicillin. This is reportedly done at a rate of 150 items/min.

A broader perspective on robotics

Sal Spada brings a broad perspective to the discussion of robotics when it comes to packaging in the pharmaceutical sector. Spada is research director and part of the Discrete Automation team at ARC Advisory Group (www.arcweb.com), which is involved in manufacturing, logistics, and supply chain solutions. Spada specializes in industrial applications of motion control, robotics, and servo drives.

"Pharmaceutical companies are no longer the large profit-generating engines they once were," he says. "And they are all moving towards the same business model for efficiency as food companies.

Pharmaceutical companies must now adjust to lower profit margins and larger product variations. That doesn't necessarily mean large variations of chemicals, but effectively varying product packaging for different regions of the world. Faced with all these issues, companies have traditionally outsourced the packaging to contract manufacturers.

"Now, a lot of pharmaceutical companies are starting to bring it back in-house to more effectively control their destiny. They're looking at late-stage customization and improving their operational performance."
By late-stage customization, Spada refers to formulating packages that "meet the specific needs of a target retailer. That may include inserting leaflets, developing different kinds of wallet packs, or reconfiguring how that package is bundled to go out to the customer."

Such customization will require more packaging flexibility. "The real shift going on is that pharmaceutical companies are re-inventing their packaging lines. They're not necessarily looking for maximum capacity and maximum throughput, but for flexibility and reduced changeover time," he says.

Robotics and flexibility

So, if robotics are known for increasing efficiency, output, and/or throughput, how do they also provide packaging flexibility for pharmaceutical manufacturers?

"We are starting to see a huge uptake in certain classes of robotics into packaging lines," says Spada. "We have always seen robotics at the very end of the line. Now we are starting to see robotic integration with primary packaging. Some of it is actually being integrated within the envelope of the packaging machine itself. It's a part of the control system used to operate and manage machine functions."

Spada says he is keeping his eye on two different classes of robots: the three-armed delta-style robot that's lightweight and well suited for packaging line applications, and a newer four-armed quattro style. "The only company marketing that right now is Adept" (www.adept.com)," he says.

Adept makes SCARA robots with amplifiers and a motion controller built into the base of the robot, allowing it to be designed into work cells with limited space. Adept robots have an RSC (robot signature card) embedded in them.

"We are seeing the adoption of a lot of both robotic classes," Spada says, providing speed and flexibility. A good example of this is in the confectionery business where multiple robotic arms pick individual candies and place them into individual paper wrappers within a carton. "That's a classic example of the delta-style robot," he notes.

Robots could perform similar tasks for pharmaceuticals. Instead of candy, robots could bundle different pharmaceutical products for different customers. Shipments to hospitals, for example, could involve robots "taking [packaged product from] mixed cases or cartons and [repackaging] them for individual shipments for individual customers," he says.

Integrating robotics and controls

Spada sees advances in incorporating robotics into packaging equipment controls. "From what I've seen on the controls side," he says, "there has been a huge adoption and integration of robotics into the controls. Look at Rockwell (www.rockwellautomation.com)," he says. "They have incorporated it into their logics solutions. Bosch-Rexroth (www.boschrexroth-us.com) uses it in its products. Elau (www.elau.com) has not only incorporated robotics into its control systems, but also has integrated the controls and mechanics so that they can sell that directly to the builders who want to integrate it within the envelope of the machine."

Spada suggests pharmaceutical packagers can economically justify using robotics as they "enable a packaging line to produce a wider range of products possible, and that they lower changeover time." He says, "Downtime is a big cost associated with changeover. It's one of the most significant factors in a short-run production operation. As the market moves towards shorter production runs, changeover time becomes a very significant factor in the overall equation."

Following the automotive industry

Robotics have been utilized for years in the automotive industry, says Spada. "The automotive industry is two generations ahead with this compared with the pharmaceutical industry," he says. "The adoption of this existing technology needs to transpire in the pharmaceutical market. The cost of developing it has already been absorbed to a large degree by the automotive sector. What we really need is some thought leadership in the pharmaceutical market to understand the entire process of taking the design of the package all the way down to the line." Spada cites AstraZeneca as a thought leader in the area of robotics.

Working with integrators and suppliers

So how does a pharmaceutical manufacturer charged with improving efficiency incorporate robotics into its packaging line(s)?

"That's a difficult situation," says Spada. "I think the line has to be thought through completely in terms of how robotics are incorporated. Robots are no longer just standing on the sidelines lifting packages into a carton or case. They're also being integrated as an integral part of the machinery. You have to look at incorporating them within individual machines.

"You may need to look not only at traditional robotics suppliers, but also at machine builders and systems integrators that put together turnkey packages."

Beyond the belief that the automotive industry has absorbed many of the research and development costs for robotics, Spada offers additional good financial news for pharmaceutical packagers: "One of the big factors that may be leading to further adoption of robotics is continued downward pricing pressure. The robotics market is so consolidated, with only about five major players. The pharmaceutical market will benefit from that.

"Five to eight years ago the typical robot might have gone for about $150,000. Now we're talking about prices in the $60,000 to $75,000 range. That could be an impetus in terms of adoption, but I think the bigger impetus will be the additional flexibility and reduced changeover time."

By Jim Butschli, Editor

Sidebar to Robotic Rx

Mechatronics and 'disruptive technologies'

Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, describes mechatronics as "centered on mechanics, control engineering, computing, and molecular engineering (from nanochemistry and biology), which, combined, make possible the generation of simpler, more economical, reliable, and versatile systems." For Wikipedia's definition of disruptive technologies, and examples of them, see page 37.