Remote and virtual: assistance without borders

MG2 opens the doors of its remote and virtual Technical Support Service to Roemmers Laboratories. And, even in this case, the personalized approach with the formulation of customized proposals is a winner.

The COVID-19 emergency has forced internationalized companies to reconfigure their technical assistance services. A limit for some, but an opportunity for companies like MG2, always responsive, especially when it comes to supporting the customer in a real partnership.

This is the case of the Laboratories Roemmers which since 1921 have played a leadership role in the pharmaceutical industry in Argentina.

Already MG2 customers since 1976 with a G36 capsule filling machine and in 1997 with MG Futura, they recently have purchased two PLANETA capsule filling machines, both working at the production speed of 100.000 capsules/hour and equipped with different dosing units including the MultiNETT weight control system.

The FAT (Factory Acceptance Test) was successfully carried out in Italy, just before the COVID-19 emergency broke out. The pandemic could have irreparably affected the final installation of the machines, but this was not the case thanks to the organizational capacity of the MG2 Technical Support Service Department.

Men and means for success

Ten professionals and various mechanical, electronic and software automation technicians, often being native speakers of the countries in which the Company operates, assisted by an international network of more than 40 agents, are part of the team, both on site and remotely.

At the heart of the strategy for the remote SAT success (Site Acceptance Test) there were several variables: the system architecture chosen by MG2, the customer active and competent participation, the network of technicians and the Argentine agent who supported the operation.

In addition to the commonly used office automation tools, MG2 availed of the augmented reality through the Team Viewer Pilot application which allowed MG2 technicians to remotely control the machines, by offering more precise and immersive visual indications in real time.

«This was our first experience in a remote SAT - tells Pablo Zajac, OSD Production Director at Laboratories Roemmers, expressing satisfaction for the work done.

«I think that in Argentina or in Italy nothing can replace a handshake or face to face meetings, but we have noticed, or rather the COVID-19 made us realize that in a large percentage these tasks can be performed digitally and very satisfactorily but with the only condition of having on both sides an excellent team of professionals but more important even, better people. From my side, my sincere congratulations to both teams and this new age of digital SATs does not deprive us of meeting from time to time in Bologna or in Buenos Aires».

Remote technical assistance, now extended to many services, is therefore added to the set of elements that make MG2 closer to the customer thus avoiding that the physical presence, the time zone and the language constitute barriers to the final goal: the customer satisfaction.

GTF60: MG2 customization meets automation to create an innovative nutraceutical line

At the heart of the collaboration, the needs of a Polish company, leader in the field of functional and food supplement, exporting its products to 90 countries, thus generating a turnover of more than 70 million euros.

For this company, MG2 carried out a customized solution for the packaging of a liquid supplement contained in glass bottles with metal caps, placed in a display box usually located in the racks of stores.

GTF60 tray former was developed to satisfy the most different packaging requirements starting from flat blanks; the customized system allows the forming of a display box with a special closing, and its opening by removing a strip from the cardboard. Inside, a separator holds in place and spaced the bottles in the box.

The machine is also equipped with a vision system, to check the presence and orientation of the product.

Two six-axis robots perform the main handling operation on the line: the picking, forming and insertion of the separator inside the formed box and the loading of the products collection inside the carton.

This GTF60 handles two sizes of bottles (25 and 60 ml) and 4 sizes of boxes with different capacity (9 or 20 pieces). To ensure a full and efficient integration of all components, MG2 developers strongly cooperated with the suppliers of robots and vision systems.

GTF60 is equipped with both a printer for variable data (such as batch and expiry date) and a system for verifying a pre-printed 2D code on the cap, as well as checking pre-printed code on the carton.