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Robotic cartoning adds efficiency, subtracts labor costs

Robotic cartoning replaces manual operations, alleviating labor shortages, costs, and increasing line efficiency for contract manufacturer Pharmalab Inc.

TWO POUCHES. Two unoriented pouches are picked up by an AFA Delta 3 robot, which then places them into a loading funnel.
TWO POUCHES. Two unoriented pouches are picked up by an AFA Delta 3 robot, which then places them into a loading funnel.

In its Levis, Canada hometown, near Quebec City, Pharmalab Inc. has found that low unemployment rates make it sometimes difficult to find qualified personnel. To help cope with that challenge, the contract manufacturer of natural health, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products, and food supplements has switched from manual cartoning to automated robotic cartoning with the recent addition of five new MK-DLT integrated Delta 3 robotic cartoners provided by AFA Systems. Antonio Muniz with Logic Tech Pack Inc. served as a consultant and AFA agent for the project.

Pharmalab produces powders, liquids, creams, and solid-dose capsules and tablets, all under customer brand names. These are packaged in a variety of formats, primarily pouches and jars, which are sold in Canada and the U.S.

Manufacturing and packaging is done within the company’s 100,000-sq-ft facility in Levis, now twice the size it was before a major expansion project in 2011. Of the facility’s 10 packaging lines, six are dedicated to pouch production, two to solid-dose products, and one each for liquids and powder filling.

Anas El Alaoui, Pharmalab’s Plant Manager, says, “We made a major expansion primarily for warehouse and administrative purposes, but all the old warehouse area was transformed into a packaging area with four pouch lines added to the two we had before.”

El Alaoui says eight of the lines run 24/7, while the liquid line runs on a two-shift, five-day-a-week schedule, and the powder filling operates on one shift, five days a week.

Centering on cartoners

Before the expansion, all cartoning was done manually, with operators handling the output of two upstream horizontal form/fill/seal pouch machines. “We used to do that work manually with three people per shift,” says El Alaoui. “The first person folded the carton, the second one put the pouches inside, and the third worker put it into the corrugated box.”

With demand increasing and qualified workers becoming more difficult to find, Pharmalab realized it had to increase its cartoning efficiency and manage labor costs.
Step one in considering an equipment investment was to develop a URS, or User Requirement Specifications documentation of its equipment needs. This information was sent to at least three different cartoner manufacturers.

“We went through our due diligence with each of the three companies and we chose AFA,” says El Alaoui. AFA earned Pharmalab’s business for a variety of reasons, he explains. “Their knowledge of that business, their experience in making cartoners, their understanding of the technology, and the results from the references they gave us were among them. We also went to see their cartoners work in other industries. Their technical service was better than the others, and the price was good.”

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LAST CHANCE TO SAVE! New Tech for Life Sciences at PACK EXPO Southeast