Reed-Lane prescribes new topserter for solid-dose bottling line

New machine accurately applies topserts to solid-dose pharmaceutical bottles, with the benefits of high-speed throughput, quick changeovers and sanitary operation.

The TopSerter II accommodates Reed-Lane’s wide assortment of bottle sizes and changes over quickly.
The TopSerter II accommodates Reed-Lane’s wide assortment of bottle sizes and changes over quickly.

Contract packagers (CPs) demand flexibility from their packaging machinery to handle multiple package types and sizes. Quick changeovers, maximum throughput and the ability to easily clean and maintain equipment are also imperative for CPs in serving customers.

Those attributes are critical for Reed-Lane, a Wayne, NJ, pharmaceutical contract packager that’s served prescription and over-the-counter pharma manufacturers since 1959. The CP specializes in blister packaging, bottling, pouching and vial filling. Not surprisingly, Reed-Lane also continues to invest in equipment to meet customer track-and-trace efforts.

Last year was a particularly busy one for Reed-Lane as it not only added serialization and aggregation capabilities to several lines, but increased throughput and speed changeovers on a key solid-dose bottling line by adding a TopSerter II™ glue-and-apply outserting machine from MGS Machine, a Coesia company.

“To meet our customers’ expectations, we rely on the best new technology,” points out Richard Wrocklage, Reed-Lane’s Director of Package Development. “Out of all of the topserters we’ve used, the one we purchased from MGS several years ago is the highest performing. That’s why we went directly to them this time. I’ve been in this industry for 35 years and have come to regard MGS as a manufacturer of top-of-the-line machines.” A video on the MGS website demonstrates how bottles index through the TopSerter II, with hot melt adhesive applied to the top of the bottle caps before a topsert is applied and pressed down onto each bottle top.

Versatile line

This bottle filling line packages a wide variety of solid-dose softgels, tablets and capsules. It can handle round bottles ranging in volume from 30 to 1250 cc and square bottles from 45 to 400 cc. Outserts vary in size, with the most common being 1-3/16 in. wide and 1-1/4 in. high and between 1/4 and 5/8 in. thick.

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