Integrator and OEM PharmaMed Automation was asked to build case labeling equipment for a manufacturer of liquid level sensors and alarm systems. The client requested a fast, full-color, on-demand label printer and a fast, flexible, and precise means of affixing the labels. Answering the call, PharmaMed designed and built a self-contained labeling cell with a color inkjet label printer, a 6-axis robot, a custom label track, custom tool head, and a conveyor, with all logic residing in the robot’s built-in controller. This experience, with a specific request to investigate Epson robotics and printers, snapped PharmaMed out of what it the integrator now considers to be an antiquated devotion to single machines accomplishing singular tasks.
“We liked to call it hard automation because it’s hard to do,” jokes Justin Mattson, Sales Engineer for PharmaMed Automation. He’s riffing on that traditional process where factory integrators allocate machines and equipment to single, fixed tasks. “Hard automation is all about rigidity, about building something that does one thing, and it’s harder because there’s no flexibility.”
