Conveying & accumulation

Optimized lines at Bacardi Beaucaire

At a historic facility in the south of France, Bacardi engineers have found a way to increase speed, efficiency, and flexibility by taking six lines down to two.

June 30, 2014

Machinery: Page 397

Material handling

How Sanofi will save $3 million in packaging costs

Through a partnership with Sonoco ThermoSafe, Sanofi meets multiple challenges in its international shipping, saving labor costs, time, and gaining versatility.

June 27, 2014

Secondary Packaging

Twin-belt turning device brings gentle palletizing

Schwenk Putztechnik, a German maker of prefabricated mortar mixtures, recently installed new palletizing technology with an eye toward reducing time spent on maintenance, gaining more efficient production, and optimizing stack configuration with regard to storage and sales.

June 26, 2014

Controls & Machine Components

Festo: Redesigned actuator control valves

Festo’s VFOF, VBNF, and VBQF multi-functional pneumatic control valve series have been redesigned to create multi-functional units that are said to be less expensive to purchase than comparable solutions, more than 50% smaller in terms of height, save energy, and are easier and faster to install, troubleshoot, and maintain.

June 26, 2014

Operational Excellence

Frankfurt to host global roundtable on open architecture for track and trace

Defining global track-and-trace standards for the pharmaceutical industry is a key goal of the Sept. 24, 2014 event in Frankfurt.

June 23, 2014

Contract packaging

Sharp Packaging to gain 10-month ROI on tablet counter

A successful validation study leads to a pharmaceutical contract packager’s use of tablet counters on all its bottling lines and small-quantity bottle filling.

June 23, 2014

Secondary Packaging

Video shows how animated simulations of packaging lines help with concept selection for robotic case packing

Douglas Machine’s animations seal the deal on retail ready and display packaging.

June 21, 2014

Labeling

Machinery to take center stage at Pharma Expo in Chicago

Co-located with Pack Expo Intl., the event will showcase next-generation production line advances in automation.

June 19, 2014

Material handling

Cold chain and logistics forum heads to Boston

Sept. 29-Oct. 3 event to shift focus to supply chain integrity as it moves back to 'the center of the life sciences industry.'

June 19, 2014

Controls & Machine Components

Beckhoff: Automation interface increases software engineering quality

Designed to reduce errors, programming time, and costs associated with manual processing of control projects, Beckhoff Automation’s new TwinCAT 3 Automation Interface automation software enables remote control of TwinCAT engineering systems and the automatic generation of programs and configurations.

June 18, 2014

Material handling

Clinical trial logistics spend to rise

Independent market research study shows that the complexity of new drugs entering clinical development will increase their use of dedicated supply chain providers with temperature control capabilities, on-time delivery, and real-time shipment traceability.

June 13, 2014

Operational Excellence

Hardshell shipper delivers blood products safely in Honduras

Credo DURACUBE LT mid-sized hardshell shipping container brings current technology to resource-constrained part of the world.

June 10, 2014

Controls & Machine Components

Aerotech: Ball-screw stage with linear encoder

A compact, high-performance linear positioning stage, Aerotech’s MPS75SLE features exceptionally smooth travel combined with outstanding accuracy, repeatability and positioning resolution capability to 25 nm.

June 9, 2014