Business challenge
A leading medical device company that produces safety lancets, personal lancets and pen needles for insulin injections required a comprehensive system that could effectively count and dispense its broad range of injection devices. More specifically, it needed an equipment solution without dedicated changeover parts for each different needle type, as this inflexibility would cause significant downtime during frequent product switches.
Medical devices such as these are typically packaged and sold in retail boxes containing a specific number of units. Quality control is critical, as each and every aspect of these intricate products must meet the highest standards not only for hygiene and sterility, but also product count accuracy.
Simply put: in this mission-critical field, companies cannot afford to sell any box – not even one in a million – containing a single unit too few or too many. This would inevitably undermine the company’s credibility and reputation in a niche where precision is both expected and rewarded.
The customer turned to Cremer to develop a tailored, highly-efficient counting and dispensing solution for its diverse product range.
Provided solution
To meet the precision and quality required, the medical device company installed a Cremer HQ 1250, part of the HQ Series of counting machines. The 12-channel module is typically used for counting small products and dispensing them in relatively large quantities for retail or wholesale packages. The HQ Series is scalable for varying production levels depending on product type and output, with available counting channel options of 4, 6, 8 or 12. It can achieve a throughput of up to 5,500 individual pieces or 175 units (discharges) per minute.
Compatible with all industrial packaging and cartoning machines, the HQ Series features a compact footprint of just 40 or 60 centimeters, FDA-compliant product parts for processing both healthcare and food products, and streamlined tool-free disassembly for easy operation and cleaning. Other features include silent operation with no compressed air required.
Four vibrating V-shaped plates are used for fast product transport and efficient product separation and singulation. Twelve separate infrared product detection channels “scan” and count each individual product with 100% accuracy, based on its shape and size.
Servo-driven “memory flaps” and a timing hopper collect the counted products and discharge them in preset quantities into an external cartoner or any other packaging machine.
Medical devices such as safety lancets and pen needles are mostly sold in boxes containing 50, 100 or other multiples of 50. This requires a timing hopper that can easily collect and dispense robust batches. The HQ 1250 is best-suited for dispensing relatively large numbers of products or large batches into a cartoner or other packaging machine.
The HQ 1250 combines speed and accuracy with low maintenance – the ideal counting solution for numerous applications where minimal downtime is critical. The easy-to-clean design of HQ series machines make them especially well-suited for medical applications where hygiene and sanitary conditions are mandatory.
System configuration
Safety lancets and pen needles are usually short, oblong objects that, once neatly aligned by the machine’s vibratory plates, require only a narrow detection channel. Considering this, a 12-channel counting machine is optimal for both speed and compactness. With its 12 detection channels the HQ 1250 can process 2,200 units per minute, or 3 lancets/needles per channel, per second. As with many similar scenarios, the HQ counter has a substantial overcapacity relevant to most third-party packaging or cartoner machines – meaning it is never the “slowest common denominator.”
The counting machine is placed on an overhead platform to accommodate a third-party carton erecting and filling system. As a factory standard, all Cremer machines are equipped with synchronization options (electronic inputs and outputs) common to packaging applications.
Bulk product is loaded into a vertical scoop conveyor with vibratory hopper, which transports it to a second hopper atop the counting machine. This large-volume buffer hopper uses servo-driven dosing slides to provide a constant and optimal product flow onto the counting machine’s vibratory plates.
Preset product counts are dispensed into the cartoner machine by the servo-driven timing hopper, which also enables automatic rejecting of product counts suspected of being compromised in any manner. This ensures that only 100% correct product counts are packed.
With the addition of its Cremer HQ 1250 counter, the medical device company has been able to ensure the highest quality standards and guaranteed accurate counts of its packaged products while also achieving the desired minimal downtime.
The counting and packaging system comprised the following equipment:
- Cremer HQ 1250 product counting machine
- Vertical scoop conveyor with vibratory feeder
- Large buffer hopper with product dosing slides
- Discharge/reject unit
- Overhead platform
HQ 1250 product counting machine
The HQ 1250 is a 12-channel product counting machine that is typically used for counting small products and dispensing them in relatively large quantities for retail or wholesale packages.
Four vibrating V-shaped plates are used for fast product transport and efficient product separation and singulation. Twelve separate infrared product detection channels “scan” and count each individual product with 100% accuracy, based on its shape and size.
Servo-driven “memory flaps” and timing hopper collect the counted products and discharge them in preset quantities into an external cartoner of any other packaging machine. The HQ 1250 combines speed and accuracy with ease of cleaning and low maintenance; the perfect counting solution for numerous applications.
Applications
Typical applications for the HQ 1250 counter are;
- safety lancets
- pen needles
- personal lancets
- seringes
- aluminium vial caps
- rubber vial seals
- lollipops
- bouillon and seasoning cubes
Video
Contact
We are always happy to help. Do you have any questions regarding possible counting solutions? Would you like some advice regarding your production facility? Do not hesitate to contact us.