Maximum security without surprises

Fully automated cuvette production from one handon duration reproducibly, precisely and stably: Thus the most important goals read, with which Sonoco Crellin invested last year into the development of its cuvette manufacturing. For the plant supplier ANGEL meant this two different kinds: Proven retain and unnecessary avoid. The four centimeters high sample containers for the medical diagnostics from highly transparent PMMA belong for many years to the firm order books of Sonoco Crellin in the Netherlands Berkel EN Rodenrijs. Only few autominutes from Rotterdam far away is the medical technology section of the Sonoco plastic division at home. The Contract Manufacturer fulfills there in a pure area of the class ISO 8 the most different customer's requests. � our strength is that we can adjust ourselves very fast to new requirements, and on highest quality level �, stress Michael Mueller, Gesch�ftsf�hrer von Sonoco Crellin in Berkel EN Rodenrijs. � Your gropes. Our skills. �, the slogan reads. � Your gropes, that is the requirements of our customers. Our skills, stands for our authority to convert the customer requirements effectively �, like that M�ller.Und like that is it the large, considerable enterprises of the medical technology, fan mA and diagnostics industry, which let manufacture in Berkel EN Rodenrijs. Under them Alfa water man, the client for the PMMA cuvettes. Long time distributed that global active outfitters of laboratories in medical practices and hospitals its quantity of orders on two plastic processing plants. Beside Sonoco a further enterprise in the USA manufactured the same products. 2009 however changed Alfa water man its strategy and concentrated the total volume on the Dutchmen. � for it our customer of us demanded naturally a long-term delivery security �, reports Mueller. � we had to guarantee it that we can supply also higher numbers of items reliably in constant quality over many years. � the existing production line pushed thereby to its borders, the flexibility of the Contract Manufacturers was once more provocative. In order to be able to accept the order, Sonoco invested in the development and the modernization of the existing manufacturing. Since July past yearly produces two production lines instead of one now parallel. They come on 60 million cuvettes per year, in peak times can it more be, also that were an important requirement of the customer. Both production lines are dedicated LINEs so called. Thus calls the Contract Manufacturer plants, which are cut to a product and are not occasionally reequipped for other orders. � we assume the plants will be charged to capacity over the next six, seven years with cuvette production �, plan Mueller-proven preservation those lines consist in each case of an injection moulding machine of the type ANGEL emotion 55, a linear robot of the type ANGEL ERC 23 F and an automation solution laid out individually likewise by ANGEL for packing the cuvettes. The full package was supplied as turn key plant, inclusive of three-year performance warranty. � we spoke with different offerers, and ANGEL crystallized as that, that best on our desires adjusted themselves �, stresses Mueller, who it depended above all not to sketch a completely new manufacturing process. � the old plant had its weaknesses, in addition, we wanted to receive its strengths and exactly those. Therefore we looked for a partner, which offers us on basis of the existing process a State OF the kind solution. � thereby above all the automation know-how of ANGEL was provoked, because within this range the project responsible persons of Sonoco constituted the largest optimization potential. � the old partial handling and - packing system was enormously complex. There were innumerable switches and sensors, as susceptibly proven and frequently disturbances caused themselves �, reports John Ballijns, engineering manager with Sonoco Crellin. The desire resulted to keep the new system as simple as possible. For the experts of ANGEL automatic control engineering Germany in Hagen meant this to analyze sense and function of each component of the old system. Thus it showed up for example that in the new solution without camera systems can be done. If the cuvettes in Sleeves so called are packed, in the center subdivided plastic rails, which take up on the right of and on the left of in each case ten cuvettes, flatten. This Sleeves serves to supply the cuvettes to the analyzers a world-wide standard for cuvettes. The special the Sleeves: The cuvettes lie on the one side with the opening forward and on the other one with the opening to the rear in the rail. For automation this means that half of the cuvettes after the injection moulding be turned and the rails must be equipped from both sides. But the Sleeves is central placed, whereby on the right of and on the left of supply rails made of high-grade steel are. Collected in these will the cuvettes after the injection moulding, in order five-by the piece in each case into the plastic rail to be transferred. The grip arm of the Angel ERC robot takes thus the cuvettes out of the 16-fach-Werkzeug, hands half over of it to a further grip arm placed outside of the tool range and puts the remaining eight cuvettes down right from the Sleeve in the supply station. At the same time the external grip arm turns around 90� and puts its eight cuvettes down on the left of v COM Sleeve. Sensitive Leichtgewichte surely seize with seizing, placing and pushing of the cuvettes had to make certain the automation experts that at no time the side panels of the cuvettes are affected. There are the sights, by which in the laboratory for the analysis by for example blood light in the visible and ultraviolet wavelength coverage is led later. Even finest scratches could falsify the result of the spectroscopy. So the grip arm had to be adapted purposefully to this restriction, because the surfaces, which are available for the handling, run conical. A further challenge for the grippers represented the small weight of the cuvettes of only 0.2 gram. The fact that the cuvettes are not placed directly after the withdrawal from the tool in the plastic rails is not alone because of the fact that per cycle fewer cuvettes are squirted than in the Sleeve place to find. Rather it concerns with the separation between injection moulding and packing process security. Ensured a buffering in the supply rails that at any time accurately 20 cuvettes are pushed into the Sleeves, even if individual cavities of the tool are closed. Its goal of increasing by a simplification of the partial handling the productivity and availability of the manufacturing plant reached Sonoco Crellin completely. Maximally two disturbances in 48 hours, then read the default, which is even fallen below today. � we want to produce and no disturbances eliminate �, stress Mueller: � stable processes are with the production of medicine-technical one-way products the condition for highest product quality and reproductibility. � automation needs nevertheless once manual assistance, is in such a way laid out the complete system that the safety A LIVINg of the partial handling can be opened with current injection moulding machine. � it is more favorable to produce during this time committee than the injection moulding process after a disturbance completely again to start to have �, thus Ballijns.K�rzere cycles, less energy consumption with the increase of the productivity becomes Sonoco Crellin not only the new customer requirements fairly, the higher efficiency is also an important component to the Return on Invest of the plant. � we guarantee a price stability to our customer �, say Mueller: � around also with further varying prices of raw materials at the order to earn, we must save in certain places. � apart from the higher plant availability this concerns above all the cycle time of the injection moulding process. With up-to-date 9.7 seconds Sonoco succeeded in together with his partner ANGEL undercutting the cycle time that old facility around 20 per cent. Of it are allotted 7.2 per cent to injecting and cooling, while the robot needs 2.5 seconds for releasing from form. � we wanted to lose no time by automation �, stress Ballijns. With the selection of the withdrawal robot the decision fell therefore on the ERC 23 with the drive package speed. � with it we achieve a particularly high speed of the Z-axis �, so Matthias H�l, planning engineer with ANGEL automatic control engineering in Hagen. Also the all-electric drives of the ANGELS emotion injection moulding machines contribute their part to the savings package. � we are about to change our entire pure area over to all-electric machines �, so Mueller. � with it we save energy between 30 and 40 per cent. � altogether 15 machines are located at present in the pure area in Berkel EN Rodenrijs, nine of it work already all-electrically. Beside the two emotion machines of the cuvette production lines, this is among other things two further ANGELS emotion as well as two ANGELS e-max-machines. An oil-free pure area, that means for Michael Mueller however more than energy efficiency. � we had an oil leakage in the pure area in the past �, report it: � much money, but also a complete week, which we needed for the cleaning and the renewed validation, cost us not only correctly. We want to switch this factor of risk off completely. � not last also, in order to develop in the hard competition of the Contract Manufacturer the own advantages further. Who knows, on which customer requirements Michael Mueller and its team become next fast and flexibly to adjust to have. Picture: The automation system for the packing of the sprayingpoured cuvettes is the heart of the system approach, which supplied ANGELS from a hand.�

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