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Two arms prove better than one on new diagnostic test kit packaging line

Pick-and-place robots increase TechLab’s packaging line speed, stay ahead of manufacturing schedules, reduce labor costs, and lessen the number of rejects.

This photo shows a high-speed delta robot that uses a vacuum end-of-arm tool to pick up individual diagnostic test kits and feed them to a flow wrapper.
This photo shows a high-speed delta robot that uses a vacuum end-of-arm tool to pick up individual diagnostic test kits and feed them to a flow wrapper.

Since 1989, Blacksburg, VA-based TechLab, Inc. has been producing rapid, non-invasive intestinal diagnostic test kits for use by clinical laboratories around the world. In mid-2012, the company opened its second manufacturing and distribution facility in Radford, VA, to keep pace with growing demand for its chemistry test kits. In designing one of the packaging lines in the new facility, TechLab built upon the knowledge it had acquired from its experiences automating its first facility.

“When we first started out, we were packaging all of our products manually,” recalls TechLab production supervisor Steven Lester. “We would have a handful of operators taking the individual components and placing them into preformed packages, and then hand-sealing them, one at a time.”

TechLab’s first foray into automation involved close collaboration with ESS Technologies to introduce one of the first FANUC LR Mate M430 articulated-arm pick-and-place robots into a pharmaceutical-type packaging environment. The robot was used to load parts onto an infeed conveyor that led to an entry-level flow-wrapping machine. This increased TechLab’s packaging line speed to 35 parts/min and reduced labor from seven or eight operators down to two.

By the time the Radford facility was completed, the products packaged on this semi-automated line had experienced “exponential growth,” says Lester, compelling TechLab to further automate the process. In its second generation of automation, TechLab specified the ESS TaskMate robotic infeed loading system, including a FANUC LR Mate 200iC six-axis robot, and a FANUC M-1iA high-speed delta robot. The first robot removes individual diagnostic test kits from a stainless-steel tray and places them on a staging conveyor; once the staging conveyor is full, the second robot picks up parts one at a time and feeds them in proper orientation to a Heritage flow-wrapper from Campbell Wrapper.

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