A high performance line for packaging vaccines

Marchesini Group has delivered to an English Big Pharma, specialized in anti-flu vaccines, a complete ultra-fast line (up to 600 pieces/min) capable of treating both syringes and flacons, performing from assembly to palletization.

In the first months of the current year, in which the pandemic hit the pharma sector with completely unprecedented pressure, Marchesini Group put in place all its commitment and know-how, working at full speed to meet customer needs with high performance solutions, suitable to support the production response in times of sanitary emergency.

Among the most important projects there is the supply for a well-known English pharmaceutical brand, a leading manufacturer of anti-flu vaccines, of a line consisting of ten machines, capable of performing the steps from assembly to palletization, working at very high speeds.

The solution - which the Marchesini team describes as "one of the most extraordinary" to which it has worked in recent years - is capable of handling at least five different formats: single syringe with speed (up to 280 pieces per minute), syringe with flowpack needle (up to 120 pieces per minute), syringes in boxes of five with a bag of needles (up to 600 pieces per minute), bottles in boxes of five ( up to 300 bottles per minute), naked bottle in case (up to 250 bottles per minute).

Focus on packaging in syringes

If set for the packaging of vaccines in syringes, the flow of the line begins with two Nextra N10 machines, for feeding all syringe formats starting from tubs, and two Combi 1/2PL machines for assembling the dipstick and labeling.

The "heart" of the machine are the six-arm pick & place robots, created in-house for the feeding and high-speed handling of delicate and fragile products. In particular, in the case of single syringes with additional needle, two Robovision manipulate the flowpacks containing needles placed next to the syringes themselves, while a Robomaster subsequently moves the entire syringe + flowpack block from the buffer to the thermoforming machine.

The task of forming the plastic box in which the syringes (single or in groups of 5) are placed is carried out by the high-depth automatic thermoforming machine FBZ 420: a robust, reliable, flexible and simple to use machine, also thanks to the extreme ease and speed in the format change, suitable for insertion in pharmaceutical environments that require medium-high production speeds.

Once assembled and stacked in the box, the syringes are ready to be packaged by the MA300 cartoner which, thanks to its extreme versatility, is able to handle any type of format, including the bare flacons and those in a five-piece box, stacked one on the other.

The BL-A420 CW labels and serializes all cartons with Optel vision system, also weighing them thanks to the integrated scale.

After being labeled and serialized, the cartons are handled by the MCP 840 TT cartopallet with Optel, which puts all formats in cardboard and on pallets, also providing for aggregation for track and trace purposes.