Upgrading machine in pharmaceutical industry
We have adapted an existing filling and packaging line for a customer from the pharmaceutical industry. Part of the line is capping filled bottles. Due to the adjustment, the line can now handle seven different products, instead of the original two. Zest was challenged for the assignment to design so that it can still process the current products, as well as the new ones, and also keep the conversion time for the different bottles as short as possible. The limited space, high speed (up to 90 bottles per minute) and the cleanability requirements for the machine placed in the cleanroom were additional challenges.
In contrast to another recent completed project (see our fully electrically driven assembly machine), this machine is completely mechanical. Zest has renewed the curve roller and supplemented it with centrally controlled pneumatic valves based on interchangeable switching rings. In addition, Zest has also designed new grippers that make it easy to change product grippers. There were hardly any drawings available of the existing capper, so a start was made with mapping the machine by means of reverse engineering. When building the machine, the production of the existing products had to be taken into account, which required good coordination with the customer. The start-up of the different caps took place in phases and Zest was always present to apply the final fine-tuning.
