Use the cost reduction potential of your blister lines

Finding a balance between safety and efficiency in a pharmaceutical production environment is like a tightrope walk. Safety primarily is a question of high fault detection accuracy of the inspection equipment. The demand for highest security sometimes yields unwelcome rejects of good products, which means a decrease the productivity of the equipment and thus an increase in costs in general.

But how increase the efficiency of the equipment without reducing the inspection safety?

It’s best to use a double strategy: Preventive measures and controlled optimisation

Equipment and processes provide a great deal of undeveloped optimisation potential. So that is what needs to be discovered and utilised. On the one hand, it’s important to make sources of problem visible. Localising structural weaknesses in the equipment gives room to targeted action to prevent the production of defective products from the outset. On the other hand, it's essential to optimise the process parameters involved in inspection so that they ensure a high degree of safety but a high degree of efficiency as well. The combination of both will optimise the process as a whole.

scanware offers a double approach to this:
New software features to develop the optimisation potential for the production equipment

The feeder statistic is a novel feature which, for the first time, makes the operation and performance of product feeders transparent. Regardless what the feeder technique is like (line-type or pocket-type), that feature systematically records all feeding errors and graphically visualises them on screen. Problem areas are revealed, which allows for targeted countermeasures on the feed system. This helps to minimise feeder errors, reduces the number of unnecessary rejects, and increases the overall efficiency of the equipment.

The product safety depends on the fault detection accuracy of the inspection equipment. The criticality of fault recognition is controlled via the parameter settings of the application software. The narrower the tolerance set, the safer is the inspection. However this increases the risk of losing valuable material due to unnecessary rejects. But at which point is safety still is ensured but a high level of productivity as well? The enhanced format test feature is the ideal diagnostic tool that helps to determine that point. By analysing the defect images recorded during production, it is possible to closely study the data evaluated for incorrect pockets. They show the nature of every defect including the parameter settings related to this. The parameter in question can then be changed. Whether and how a change would take effect on the detection in production is displayed immediately in the image. So the operator gets a direct feedback and can adopt the change, if appropriate. Analysing the defect images allows to optimise the parameter settings systematically, which will continually reduce the number of good rejects while maintaining a high level of safety.