Pharma Test Kit Automated Packaging
Project role and responsibilities
Supporting Mechanical Engineer- Cycle sequence chart
- Carton processing section design
- Outfeed handling section design
Overview
Cycle time: 2 seconds
Project timeline: 16 weeks
The objective of this project is to increase the production rate of an existing manual operation tasked with packaging test kits. A packaged test kit assembly is comprised of a test kit unit and an information pamphlet placed into a cardboard carton that is folded shut.
The machine can be viewed as three sections: material infeed handling, carton insertion and processing, outfeed handling.
- In the material infeed area, an operator manually loads three feed lanes with product: cartons, test kit units, information cards. Incoming cartons are presented flat and are automatically manipulated to take their final form. Test kit units are fed along a conveyor and are inspected for correct orientation before a label is applied followed by carton insertion. Information cards are presented pre-folded and are fed directly on top of the inserted test kit unit.
- Once the test kit units and information cards have been inserted into the carton, the cartons proceed along the main indexing conveyor through sequential stations that tuck, fold, and close the carton’s top cover.
- During outfeed handling, cartons are diverted off of the main conveyor along an unload chute where a label is applied onto the carton’s exterior. When the label has been verified, the completed test kit assembly is sorted and fed out onto either an OK or NOK outfeed lane where it is handled accordingly by an awaiting operator.
