Leveraging the power of robotic process automation, PACE is developing the supply chain of the future, with the capacity to drastically reduce current timescales of months to just days.
This digitally enabled automated line delivers the production, packaging, and labelling of multiple drugs in the same facility with complete traceability and without the risk of cross-contamination. It all takes place on a single line in a GMP environment with real-time quality checks, resulting in less waste, risk, and cost while maximising speed to patients.
By combining modular automation with robotic process automation, PACE allows for increased productivity, reduced costs and lead times, greater flexibility and complexity within clinical trials, and ultimately, faster delivery of medicine to patients. All this is achieved while prioritising sustainability, minimising waste, and reducing CO2 emissions.
The system handles and processes two different sizes of pill containers marked with 2D matrix codes for tracking—60cc and 150cc, supplied in bulk form and fed in from bulk hoppers. Each hopper has a capacity for 1,000 or 2,000 bottles depending on the bottle size. The bottles pass through bowl feeding, orientation, and singulation systems, ready for loading to the line individually.
Key Features Powered by Robotic Process Automation:
- Bulk Feeding & Singulation: PACE’s bulk storage and singulation system handles and presents two sizes of tablet bottles, marked with 2D matrix codes for tracking.
- Tablet/Desiccant Filling: The patented filling station design allows independent operation within a single cleanroom, enabling quick drug type changeovers, precise tablet dispensing, and efficient packaging with bottle verification.
- Weighing: Precision weighing occurs at three stages—tare weight, desiccant addition, and tablet filling—while each bottle’s unique 2D code is scanned to ensure accurate processing.
- Sealing & Capping: Induction sealing ensures each bottle is individually sealed, checked, and capped with precise torque from a bulk feeding system while sealing parameters and cap torque values are digitally recorded for each bottle.
- Labelling: Bottles enter the module for 2D code verification and label retrieval, where labels are printed, scanned for accuracy, and applied only if correct, supporting single-panel and wrap-around labels while preventing waste.
- Storage & Dispatch: Labeled bottles are placed into trays for dispatch or storage, with verified process data enabling quick QP review and faster distribution.
“We’re really excited about PACE here at Sewtec and the innovation and advancements it’s set to bring to the pharmaceutical industry in terms of clinical trials,” says Sewtec’s Business Manager Lee Manning. “Clinical trials need to be carefully controlled at every stage. This inevitably makes them expensive and time-consuming to run. One of the biggest issues facing pharmaceutical manufacturers is maintaining a cleanroom environment during packing—and this is exactly what our patented PACE technology does.”