How are Robots Used in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing?

The pharmaceutical industry is extremely competitive. It can be hard at times to keep up with your competition. FanucWorld’s robotic solutions can help speed up your production processes, improve consistency, and scale your business toward record breaking numbers.

FanucWorld Delivers Machine Uptime For the Pharmaceutical Industry

How Industrial Robots Support the Pharmaceutical Industry

• Increased productivity
• Better consistency
• Reduction in downtime
• Increased flexibility

Pick and Place Robots

Pick and place robots are seen more and more frequently in pharmaceutical manufacturing. Within these factories you can find everything from a LR Mate 200iD Series Robot to a Fanuc Cobot CRX-10iA Series. These robots are often used for picking up an item from a conveyor belt and moving it to a work area this is where the pick-and-place robot gets it’s name. Another popular task for these pick-and-place robots and cobots is sorting. More specifically the sorting and arranging of syringes and medicine bottles.

Inspection Robots

Advancements in robotic vision have seen an increase in the use of inspection robots in manufacturing. BusinessWire has recently predicted that Global Inspection Robots Market Size will increase 29% by 2028 as a result of this growth. Pharmaceutical Manufacturers rely on the dependability of these inspection robots to detect defects. Being able to consistently spot defects is vital in the pharma industry as any slight mistake could prove to be fatal for the end user. Some primary tasks these inspection robots perform are:

• Inspection of the primary packaging – detection of prefilled syringes, inspection of the cap or tip and seals, and inspection of the exterior packaging for quality.
• Product Inspection – leak testing and fill level verification of the interior product to confirm quality and volume of the product meets standards.
• Secondary Packaging – Inspection of the label, vial counting, and serialization for US regulatory requirements.

Machine Tending Robots

There are a variety of machine tending applications used in pharmaceutical manufacturing. Robots are an ideal choice for machine tending as they allow the operator to work on more important tasks within the production line. Machine tending can be a very monotonous task for humans to complete. Machine tending robots are not only able to complete the task continuously, these robots are also able to do so with near perfect precision. An example of a machine tending robot application in the pharmaceutical industry would be feeding samples into a testing machine.

Packaging Robots

A packaging robot is used for a variety of different tasks within the pharmaceutical industry. Tasks such as packaging products into bags or containers, loading products onto trays, and stacking boxes onto pallets to get them ready to ship. Packages robots have significantly impacted the pharmaceutical industry by creating a more efficient and profitable production line. Another perk of these robots is controlling the risk of contamination of your products.

Palletizing Robots

Palletizing robots are a great way to increase the productivity of your production line. Not only do these robots allow you to palletize your products more efficiently, they also reduce errors by improving the consistency of your process. Palletizing robots are programmed to do their tasks with precision. This reduces the risk of a dislodged shipment that could potentially contaminate your products. Another danger when a box may be stacked incorrectly is the potential damage to the product or packaging.

Whatever the size of your application, adding robotic automation to your production line can help you scale your business while also increasing efficiency. Our robotic consultants can assist in every part of the process. We have the knowledge and experience on hand to have your robot ordered and dressed out, ready for integration in no time! To get started, simply fill out our quote request form on this page and one of our robotic specialists will help you select the right refurbished robot for your application.