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Six Guidelines for Turnkey Packaging Line Integration

These steps can help ensure a smooth packaging line startup in weeks rather than months.

Figure 4: This end-of-line photo shows robots adding corner boards prior to stretch wrapping a load of pharmaceutical products. This system was part of an overall case packing and palletizing turnkey solution. The robots are working in a caged cell to ensure worker safety.
Figure 4: This end-of-line photo shows robots adding corner boards prior to stretch wrapping a load of pharmaceutical products. This system was part of an overall case packing and palletizing turnkey solution. The robots are working in a caged cell to ensure worker safety.

In an ideal world, a new pharma end-of-line packaging system will run at peak output in a matter of weeks after set up, not months. The majority of documentation and training will be completed prior to installation for better overall operation. Internal staff time and travel costs for the acquisition of the new line will be minimized.

In the case of pharmaceutical packaging, the time required for validation could be reduced by as much as 50 percent by creating and populating the bulk of the Installation Qualification/Operation Qualification (IQ/OQ) documentation prior to the Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) (see Figure 1).

These benefits of turnkey end-of-line integration are not reserved for an ideal world. They happen daily and the trend toward more successful startups through turnkey integration—delivering a pre-tested, functioning end-of-line system rather than assembling the line and testing it at the customer’s plant—is gaining strength.

Recently, the end-of-line integration team at Brenton Engineering, a Pro Mach business, came together to identify the key factors for successful turnkey integration for pharma companies that support on time and on budget startup projects. Having a formal integration process and methodology was identified as a key to success. Controls expertise across various machines was also cited as essential.

Developing an integration checklist—an operational secret sauce—or a top control technology staff were considered important but did not serve to differentiate the adequate integrator from the stellar performer. In the end, the team identified six guidelines end users can follow for ensuring fast start up and all of the other benefits outlined above.

Moving from concept to packaging line

One dictionary definition of a guideline is a rope to aid in crossing over a difficult point. Similarly, the guidelines in this article are provided as aids in moving with confidence from concept to a performance-driven end-of-packaging-line system. When evaluating potential integrators and while moving through the process, end users should look for the following:

  1. An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of cartoners, case packers, or palletizers that also specializes and is successful in turnkey integration.
  2. OEMs that understand the value of weekly communication during the project.
  3. OEMs that employ certified project managers or project managers on track for certification.
  4. OEMs that run productivity and safety risk assessments for every system on the line.
  5. OEMs that stage factory acceptance tests (FATs) that not only focus on running the line at specified rates, but also facilitate training.
  6. OEMs that understand the importance of IQ/OQ validation and that actively facilitate the development of the bulk of the documentation by the end of the FAT.

Guideline 1: Find an OEM of a core machine with successful experience in end of line integration.

The leading suppliers today have the latest in servo motion control technology for fast, reliable changeover, superior diagnostics for quick identification of root cause issues, and first-rate technical support, all of which contribute to high end overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) metrics. But system integrators, which are basically engineering and project management companies, can never match the OEM in terms of understanding the upstream and downstream inputs and outputs to the core machine that will serve to optimize the entire end of line.

Because of this expert knowledge, some of these leading OEMs have built a thriving turnkey integration business. Another point in favor of working with a leading OEM versus the system integration company is that the OEM has a machine builder’s eye for good equipment (see Figure 2). In some turnkey projects, the OEM is asked to select the other machines on the line. That OEM has every incentive to find the best, low-risk solutions for upstream and downstream processing that complements its own machine (see Figure 3).

Ask the OEM for references. Visit the plant to see turnkey systems being built. It will be clear from the physical set up—an orderly, well equipped, and expansive workspace—whether turnkey integration is a hobby or a profession for the OEM candidate. Ask what the team looks for when selecting upstream and downstream solutions. The answers will be illuminating.

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INTRODUCING! The Latest Trends for Life Sciences at PACK EXPO Southeast