Ensuring Safety and Efficiency: the Impact of Pharmaceutical Packaging Automation

A series of conveyors with pharmaceutical boxes moving along them.

After your pharmaceuticals are manufactured, you face the difficult process of managing and shipping your inventory to distributors and end users. This process can be incredibly difficult if your automated systems aren’t customized to your unique product and facility. Not only are you prone to counting, labeling, and packaging errors, but you also put your entire company at risk for regulatory fines and repercussions.

Getting your pharmaceutical packaging automation systems optimized and integrated is difficult to manage independently, especially if you have little to no experience in the automation field. Let us help you understand the importance and power of customized lines of automated equipment in the pharmaceutical industry.  We want to be your first choice in automation equipment and services – for your productivity and customers’ safety. Call us today and start the conversation.

How Integrated Packaging Automation Can Benefit You

Automation is one of the most important fields in manufacturing. From robotic arms to label applicators, automation can touch nearly every step of the manufacturing process, providing the benefits of consistency and speed. A tool specifically structured to do a single task is, by design, faster and better at that task than a person.

But without a customized and fully integrated system, you might as well be packaging your product by hand! A fully integrated system improves productivity, provides more accurate product fills, and increases efficiency throughout your entire process while addressing DSCSA (Drug Supply Chain Security Act) and serialization compliant labeling requirements. 

Here’s how:

Higher Count Accuracy

In an integrated automated line, machines are designed to work in perfect sync, reducing variability and improving precision at each stage of the counting and packaging process. Each machine, from fillers to counters to cappers, communicates and adjusts in real-time, minimizing miscounts that can happen with manual or semi-automated lines where equipment may not be fully synchronized.

Save Time and Resources

Managing inventory is a difficult task, no matter how skilled a professional you are. When dealing with hundreds of products across different processes, an automated system can keep track of the exact number of pills, bottles, and packs that move through your business. Integrated systems provide real-time data on counts, which can be continuously monitored. If there is any discrepancy or deviation, the system can immediately adjust or halt the process to investigate.

Reduced Labor Costs

Labor in manufacturing is often the highest portion of your budget. Integrated pharmaceutical packaging automation can greatly benefit your budget by reducing labor costs and streamlining your packing process. Additionally, you will notice reduced waste from errors, mislabeling, and other human errors.

Reduced Bottlenecks

When you have one of our automation experts on hand, you have a person fully versed in streamlining and constructing more efficient processes. If you are struggling to output as much as your system should handle, you might benefit from a pharmaceutical packaging automation expert who can help you integrate a new tool.

Additionally, Integrated automated lines often include defect detection systems that identify and remove irregularly sized, broken, or product that might affect the overall count accuracy.

Improved Production Speed

Integrated automated lines are especially beneficial for high-volume production, where maintaining count accuracy manually would be nearly impossible. These lines can count thousands of units per minute while maintaining accuracy, which is invaluable for large-scale production.

What Are the Dangers of Not Integrating Your Automations?

While you might assume there is nothing to worry about when using automation that isn’t integrated, this isn’t true. An error-filled packaging process can result in miscounts, inventory errors, and inefficiencies, resulting in productivity and profit losses.

Productivity losses are one of the worst experiences for any business, but doubly so in pharmaceuticals. The production time from base chemicals to finished pharmaceutical products can be long and complicated, and the shelf-life for pharmaceuticals can be prohibitively short. Any errors resulting in product loss or shipment delay can be costly or detrimental. Automation of packaging, labeling, and product movement will keep your pharmaceuticals moving quickly out the door and into the hands of those who need them.

What Types of Tools are Appropriate for Automated Pharmaceutical Packaging?

A package of green capsules in the process of being sealed

There are dozens of pharmaceutical products, and each form has its packaging requirements. Automated pharmaceutical packaging must often be custom-made or adjusted to meet the product’s specific requirements. Some of the best tools we offer include:

Each option in this wide range of machinery can provide ample benefits to your process. If you work with Creative Packaging Solutions, you work with a team of experts with the ingenuity to integrate equipment that will fit into your process.

You Can Count on the Creative Packaging Solutions Team!

Have you considered the possibilities of integrating your pharmaceutical packaging automation for your pharma business? With the above benefits, you can experience a more profitable and productive business while enhancing safety and consumer protections!

Automation is a powerful tool. This is why we train in all aspects of integration and process development to accentuate the benefits of a piece of equipment in your process while reducing any risks or difficulties.

Are you ready to experience a reinvigorated and enhanced process? Call today!