MARCHESINI GROUP AND SEA VISION LAUNCH A NEW BLISTER SERIALIZATION AND AGGREGATION TECHNOLOGY

From 22 to 26 August, Frankfurt am Main will host the 2022 edition of Achema, the world forum for chemical engineering, process engineering and biotechnology held every three years.

During this very important event, SEA Vision Group and Marchesini Group will launch the following solutions for the first time: the INTEGRA 720V complete robotized blister line, the BL-A525 CW high-speed labeller, and the complete Track & Trace software solution developed by SEA Vision. This is a brand-new solution on the market for primary pack serialization and aggregation, comprising a complete range of technologies to print, inspect and pack serialized blisters and perform aggregation with cartons, all integrated in a 4.0 environment.

The two companies decided to invest in this challenging project in order to further enhance product identification, which is a prerequisite in the healthcare industry. While today this prerequisite is respected in the case of cartons and pallets, this does not apply to primary packaging such as blisters. This means that there is still a risk of counterfeiting when it comes to drugs’ primary packaging and, despite all the investments made by pharma companies to ensure that secondary packaging is traceable, there is still a hidden gap that could cause serious damage.

Occasionally, along the supply chain, during distribution or in the consumer’s hands, the primary and secondary packaging are separated. Separation of the blister from its carton is considered product manipulation, creating a potential risk for the health of the patient.

The new solution designed by SEA Vision and Marchesini Group is strategic – when the blister is distributed (for example, in hospitals, pharmacies or in the consumer’s hands) or used separately from its original packaging – and faces all the challenges of a project of this nature. This cutting-edge solution is the ideal choice for any pharmaceutical manufacturer that wants to be anticipate future regulatory implementations and give their packaging processes added value. 

INTEGRA 720V, the integrated, robotised line for packaging blisters in cartons 

INTEGRA 720V is a compact multilane blister line (up to three blister infeed lanes) with a completely balcony-style structure, comprising two sections: a blister packaging machine that forms the blisters and places the products for packaging in their cavities and a cartoning machine that packages the blisters in their cartons.

The two sections are connected by a Robocombi, a three-axis robot that is fully integrated in the line and entirely created by the Marchesini Group Research & Development departments. This high-tech arm, which feeds the blisters into the product conveyor boxes, can be programmed to execute different stacking sequences based on the blister count set and is controlled by software that permits automatic synchronisation of the transfer, tracking and stacking system. The two sections can be separated by a partition so that they can be included in environments of different classes and can be operated independently, depending on the customer’s needs.

INTEGRA 720V has an innovative pusher and counter-pusher unit, a rotary drum carton opening system to cope with very high speeds and an efficient leaflet picking and insertion system. The result is a line that can produce up to 720 blisters (made of aluminium+PVC/PVDC/PET/aluminium and other materials) and up to 500 cartons/minute (with tuck-in or glue closure and many other combinations), permitting very easy cleaning and size changing since the product loading area is separated from the electrical and mechanical parts.