Robots increase in the pharmaceutical industry

The use of robot­ics will con­tin­ue to increase in the phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal indus­try because of its effi­cien­cy, high speed, and reduc­tion in errors as com­pared with man­u­al work­ers. Fur­ther, robots can meet the demand for com­ply­ing with strict hygiene regulations. 

Robot automa­tion ensures reduced patient wait­ing times for out­pa­tients and dis­charge patients and time­ly stock deliv­er­ies. The use of robots also allows staff to enhance time spent with patients while dis­pens­ing time is reduced. Final­ly, pre­ven­tion is key: dis­pens­ing errors are reduced, and staff ​“slack­ing” is reduced, which increas­es the pharmacy’s efficiency.

The key ben­e­fits of using a dis­pens­ing robot in the phar­ma­cy include time sav­ings, since the robot can input and out­put mul­ti­ple packs in one move­ment, patient wait­ing times are decreased, and staff can spend time on oth­er tasks. Anoth­er ben­e­fit is sav­ing space. Robots can stock a shelf four times more effi­cient­ly than in the past. Final­ly, accu­ra­cy is enhanced, includ­ing stock con­trol accu­ra­cy and bar­code stock iden­ti­fi­ca­tion check. 

In the past, robot­ic pick­ing, pack­ing, and pal­letiz­ing have been proven to reduce man­u­al labor. How­ev­er, oth­er fac­tors are now increas­ing in impor­tance in the phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal indus­try. Easy-to-use hygien­ic pick­ing and pack­ing robots with inte­grat­ed vision sys­tems has helped place empha­sis on high­er out­puts and effi­cien­cy, as well as con­sis­tent qual­i­ty and hygiene.

ABB offers a trio of robots that can cope with the demands of vac­cine han­dling and its pack­ag­ing. They are designed specif­i­cal­ly for pick­ing, pack­ing, and pal­letiz­ing. Vac­cines require spe­cif­ic types of pack­ag­ing that demand spe­cial han­dling. The ABB IRB 660 Flex Pal­letiz­er has two built-in scan­ners to con­sign box­es onto a pal­let for ship­ping. Then, the ABB Flex­Pick­er pack­ages oral vac­cines for polio, using vision-aid­ed con­vey­or track­ing to aid the pack­ing motion. Final­ly, the ABB IRB 260 anchors a pack­ag­ing line for flu and menin­gi­tis vac­cines, with up to 500 syringes a minute. 

Robot­ic infeeds ensure that in drug deliv­ery device assem­bly pack­ag­ing lines, effi­cien­cy is achieved. A phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal man­u­fac­tur­er need­ed an auto­mat­ed high-speed sys­tem for assem­bling and pack­ag­ing a drug deliv­ery device. The sys­tem inte­grat­ed feed­ing and pack­ag­ing equip­ment, includ­ing Fanuc LR Mate 200iB robots with ESS-designed end-of-arm tool­ing to han­dle the assem­bly, col­lat­ing, and load­ing of the drug deliv­ery devices. The robots were able to main­tain the required infeed speeds, and these infeed cells also served as dis­charge and inspect­ing sys­tems. This allowed a high-speed, high per­for­mance, high­ly flex­i­ble pack­ag­ing line.

Robots​.com sup­plies a large vari­ety of robots that can be used in the phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal indus­try. Con­tact us today for a free quote or dis­cuss what you are look­ing to inte­grate at 877−762−6881 or reach us online.