How do you bring 65 injection molding machines and various assembly lines – most of the manufacturing cells in the cleanroom – as well as, soon, a large number of ancillary equipment under one digital roof? A field report.

The Arburg host computer system ALS is the link between the shop floor and ERP system and connects order management with process and quality monitoring.

16:9

The Arburg Host Computer System as a Basis of Higher Productivity and Product Quality

Spritzgießen

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

Steuerungen (Hardware und Software)

Automatisierungstechnik

Industrie 4.0 für die Qualitätssicherung

Industrie 4.0

Doriat, Clemens, Dr.

Condition Monitoring / Prozessüberwachung

Instandhaltung

Kennzahlen, Q-Leitstand, Q-Monitor

Qualitätssicherung

Rückverfolgbarkeit, Traceability

Qualitätsmanagement

Energieeffizienz

Industrie 4.0 für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Montagelinien

Montagetechnik

Montage

Medizintechnik

Reinraumsysteme / -technik

Medizinprodukte

Case Files for Patient Safety

Zahoransky supplies systems and injection molds for manufacturing breakage-proof primary packaging for pharmaceuticals. Three typical applications.

The double quick-change system for pipette tips permits rapid restart of production after brief maintenance interruptions.

Automatisierungszellen

Spritzgießwerkzeuge

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Maschinen und Komponenten

Werkzeuge für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Pharmaceutical Primary Packaging  with No Risk of Breakage

In the production of plastic parts for the medical and pharmaceutical industry, the requirements for cleanroom environments are becoming increasingly stringent. In this area, not only the demand for all-electric injection molding machines is increasing. There is also an increasing use of electric drives for the implementation of mold movements, which meet the high requirements for cleanliness and reliability.

Fig. 1. Solutions for electrical mold movements, for example a 72+72 cavity stack mold for the closing cone production

Electrical Drives in Injection Molds

Elektrische Antriebe

Antriebe

Mess- / Regel- und Prozessleittechnik

Prozessautomation

Mess-, Steuer- und Regelgeräte

Qualitätssicherung Kunststoff

Mold Technology

Space-saving machine concepts for demanding production environments are booming. A real-life example of a slit micro-membrane for pharmaceutical glass vials shows how intelligent machine functions make an important contribution to supporting machine operators and continuous documentation of the production process.

Injection molding and slitting of an LSR membrane for a glass-vial closure for pharmaceutical products make high demands on precision

KraussMaffei Delivers a Customized Solution for LSR Processing

Mikrospritzgießen

Silikonkautschuk

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

Kautschuk / Elastomere

Transparency in Production

RKT has been manufacturing plastic products for medical and industrial technology for 45 years. Discs for the rapid analysis of multi-resistant hospital germs are a lighthouse project within the sophisticated product portfolio.

 A six-axis robot picks the molded parts out of the mold under an inert gas atmosphere and conveys them into the cleanroom for further processing and packaging

High-Tech Production of Life-Saving Disks for Fast Analysis of Dangerous Germs

An All-Round Winner

In comparison to its existing custom manufacturing business area, Wirthwein Medical plans to achieve above-average growth with its own products.

Growth on the Second Pillar

A traditional, family-run company with locations around the world and a high degree of in-house production, which developed within the medical technology sector from modest beginnings – these attributes characterize the globally renowned company B. Braun. The cleanroom production of, e. g., infusion sets and filter inserts often requires special injection molding solutions. 

Arburg Designs Tailored Plant Concepts for B. Braun 

Montage-Spritzgießen

Unconventional Solutions Called for 

ABB has appointed Joerg Theis as President of ABB’s Machine Automation Division (B&R), effective April 1, 2021. He succeeds Clemens Sager, who managed the division ad interim since January 1, 2021.

Joerg Theis has been appointed as President of ABB’s Machine Automation Division (B&R), effective April 1, 2021.

20:7

Automatisierungskomponenten

Fertigungsautomation

ABB Appoints Joerg Theis President of B&R

Before Covid 19, some 65 % of pipette tips were used without filter, but meanwhile, a majority of pipette tips now has filters. What does this mean for manufacturers?

Filters on the pipette tips protect the pipettes and samples from unintentional and unnoticed contamination – especially with automated laboratory tests

Messe Fakuma

kunststoffe-international.com

Montageeinrichtungen

Filtergewebe

Halbzeuge und Zwischenprodukte

Kunststoff-Halbzeuge

Filter Assembly System for Pipette Tips

Injection molding cell combines high article variance with automated product changeover.

With the turnkey solution, 159 product variants can be manufactured.

Flexible Production Concept Combines High Article Variance with Automation

Mehrkomponenten-Spritzgießen

Inserttechnik

Linearroboter für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Handling, Handhabungstechnik

Multiaxialroboter für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

One System, 159 Variants

Automotive supplier Coko produces four structural parts and twelve visible parts for a truck driver’s cab on a fully automated injection molding line.

Dominick Sudeck (left), Global Process Management, and Sascha Böning, Industrial Engineering, in front of the production cell’s complex handling system.

Coko Manufactures Different Automotive Parts on a Single Turnkey System

Industrieroboter

Industrieroboter klein

KFZ-Zulieferer

Dienstleistungen

Sixteen in One Go

Otto Klumpp GmbH has for many years processed, for example, highly transparent PC and high-performance plastics such as PPSU into sophisticated medical products. Since cleanliness and hygiene are essential for implants or blood-carrying systems, injection molding production and parts assembly are performed in the cleanroom. DLC-coated components also play an important role in in-house mold production. 

Otto Klumpp: DLC-Coated Standards in Cleanroom Production 

Polysulfone / Polysulfide

Normalien und Heißkanaltechnik

Cutting Edge Technology 

Jako meditec specializes in the injection molding of tubes, with closure caps and racks, in which blood samples from blood donors are kept deep-frozen for many years. Each sample can be uniquely traced thanks to a DM code. The two-component tubes are produced using a special, patented wet-in-wet injection molding process. 

Jako meditec: Patented Wet-in-Wet Process for Freeze-Stored Blood Sample Tubes 

Blood Samples with Origin Code 

Due to its high-performing properties polyetheretherketone thermoplastic polymer is being used more and more frequently in many products.

PEEK can replace fluoropolymers in cryogenic applications. Advanced Engineering Valves uses PEEK from Victrex for sealings in ball valves

Polyetheretherketone (PEEK)

Elektronik-Fertigung

Elektronik

Polyetherketon

Thermoplaste

Mikroelektronik

Kunststoff

Bauwesen

Baustoffe

Hochleistungskunststoffe

Delivering Efficiency Even in  Harsh Environments

Styrenics can be polymerized using different technologies and it can be modified with a range of copolymers. The resulting plastics offer a wide range of properties allowing to customize them for different applications. Because of this range of properties they are suitable for many industries. Strong demand is for example driven by the automotive industry, healthcare and the packaging industry.

Styrene copolymers are frequently used in the exterior of vehicles. The Chinese manufacturer Lixiang, for example, uses an ASA for the radiator grill of its electric vehicles

Styrenic Polymers

Verpackungsmaterial

Logistik

Automotive

Polystyrol

Technische Kunststoffe

Styrol-Copolymerisate

Diverse Shapes and Applications

Sanner and MA micro automation Bring Rapid Test Production Back to Europe

Sanner and automation specialist MA micro automation create attractive conditions even for smaller batch sizes.

Current developments indicate: supply chains have become fragile and near-shoring or reshoring is regaining importance. Many companies have successfully demonstrated that with fully automated production, many products, including rapid medical tests can be produced in Germany just as cost-effectively as in the Far East. Sanner and automation specialist MA micro automation create attractive conditions even for smaller batch sizes. An assembly cycle time of 750 milliseconds per test is a help in achieving this manufacturing capability.

The laboratory landscape in Germany is diverse. Highly competent small and medium-sized companies develop test strips including analysis equipment for detecting a wide variety of substances. Covid test kits are just one example. Point-of-care (PoC) diagnostic devices are also relevant for detecting diabetes, pregnancy or illicit drug use. Production of test cartridges alone is not profitable for many laboratories due to the demand for small quantities, which is why they often buy standard products from Asia and assemble them there as well.

But if production volumes of many smaller customers were combined and supported by a highly efficient assembly line, it would be just as easy and more profitable to manufacture in Europe. Doing so would provide simpler logistics, better quality monitoring and private labeling of products. Sanner GmbH, Bensheim, Germany, is a renowned provider of plastic primary packaging for pharmaceuticals, medical consumables including point-of-care tests and in vitro diagnostic devices. MA micro automation GmbH, St. Leon-Rot, Germany, designs and builds complex automation solutions to support medical device manufacturing. Both companies are now combining their expertise to advance the insourcing (in this case also reshoring) of rapid tests.

The basis for this is utilization of MA micro automation’s Ceres POC system, which can assemble test cartridges with up to three test strips – in just 750 ms per cartridge. Sanner can now offer customized or standard cartridges, which can accommodate the needs of many customers. The precise fit of component parts is important in order to achieve an effective lateral flow, the uniform spreading of a test sample along the reagent coated test strip.

Sanner has been an expert in the field of precision injection molding for years and has used their in-house competence to develop a test device and housing design according to customer specific functional requirements. Design and reliable production of this component guarantees the functional capability required to deliver precise test measurement results.

Components of rapid test devices, the plastic upper and lower housing parts plus test strips, undergo a complex manufacturing process. Injection molded and packaged in bulk, the cartridges are loaded into feeders to be separated, oriented and fed into the assembly line. Up to three cutting modules are docked with the line to convert sheet stock material into test strips. The latter is available in cards of about 300 mm length and, depending on the product type, are cut into 60, 80 or 95 mm widths. After prior visual inspection to confirm reaction agent or test chemical is applied everywhere, the cutting modules cut the cards into individual test strips with any faulty raw material automatically ejected by the system.

Cutting is followed by precise feeding of test strips into lower cartridge parts and subsequent “on the fly” vision inspection to confirm correct positioning. This is done using 3D scanning technology. Upper parts are still needed to complete the assembly. While component parts purchased from Asia provide dimensional accuracy sufficient for manual assembly, typically they are not suitable for trouble-free operation of a high-performance assembly machine. In-house production of all cartridge components by Sanner solves this problem.

The next step in the manufacturing process involves a special feature of the whole concept: the visual individualization of test devices. Conventionally, products like these are marked by pad printing processes. However, this technology always requires complex setup of a new template when a production type is changed causing significant downtime between batch runs. Instead of pad printing, the Ceres POC, uses two programmable laser writers to mark products.

 They can produce a variety of label configurations in short cycle times and are simply switched from one program to the next when a version change is to take place. In practice, this means that each laboratory can accommodate its own labeling requirements including a logo. To change production over from one customer’s production order to the next, only a change of test strip card material and activation of a specific laser program. In this way, smaller production volumes can add up to a larger run make test production in this country more efficient and profitable. Most laboratories require quantities ranging from a few hundred thousand to five million tests per year.

A closely controlled press force combines the upper and lower parts to form a finished test cartridge. Subsequent inspection checks monitor whether everything has been assembled correctly. The last vision inspection verifies correct labeling and then the finished tests leave the machine via a conveyor belt leading to a primary packaging. At this point, in addition to the test cartridges, drying agents and any necessary pipettes can be added and contents can be welded in bags.

The Ceres POC works so fast that the human eye can hardly follow: the system produces 80 tests in 60 s. Numerous optical tests integrated into the assembly process guarantee all products are of the highest quality. MA micro automation has the necessary in-house know-how, so that image processing, IT and mechanical design of automation equipment complement each other. The company is one of the world’s leading providers of automation technology and special machinery construction and currently employs around 200 people at three locations in Germany, Singapore and the USA. They create systems for patient-oriented applications (PoC tests), in vitro diagnostic consumables (such as pipette tips) and the production of disposable contact lenses.

Sanner is the world market leader in the field of desiccant packaging and is also a sought-after provider of individual product development services and contract manufacturing for customers in the fields of medical technology, diagnostics and pharmaceuticals. The Sanner Group is characterized in particular by a very high quality standard in production, no matter whether it is a gray- or cleanroom, as well as a high OTIF level (on time in full) of 99 % and thus a high delivery reliability. Founded in 1894, the company has around 600 employees and operates production sites in Germany, France, Hungary and China. Sanner has been producing rapid tests for some time, but the minimum quantity production volumes required so far have often been too high for small and medium-sized laboratories. Due to the extremely flexible yet high throughput capability of Ceres POC from MA micro automation, this is now changing.

MA micro automation GmbH  

https://www.micro-automation.de/

Sanner GmbH  

https://www.sanner-group.com

Ausgabenartikel

Final inspection of the finished test cartridges. Thanks to the cooperation of Sanner and MA micro automation, various design and labeling requirements can be realized.

Assembly time 750 ms: the rapid transport of individual parts – here the lower shells – is the prerequisite.

Cutting station: it makes individual test strips from card material and automatically sorts out faulty parts.

Lower shell with inserted lateral flow test strip. 

Inline process testing ensures product quality at all times. 

Name - Hauptartikel

Sanner and MA Micro Automation Bring Rapid Test Production Back to Europe

 Dr. Sabine Kob is a freelance journalist specializing in plastics technology.

Read the German version of the  article in our magazine Kunststoffe or at <a href="https://www.kunststoffe.de/a/fachartikel/zu-schnell-fuers-menschliche-auge-3010787" target="_blank">www.kunststoffe.de</a>