The recipe for projects without side effects
Pharma sector case study
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- References
- Case studies
- Pharma automation
The production of medical devices fits well with Utz’s strengths
High-quality products, high quality standards, and production in closed cycles. Pharmaceutical production consists of many individual processes:
- component manufacturing,
- partial and final assembly,
- and packaging, which includes production-related auxiliaries.
This multi-stage nature calls for clever solutions for process logistics, which at the same time create added value. Utz trays are often not only robust and protective transport aids, but they also ensure cross-process automation without manual intervention.
A particular challenge in projects in the pharmaceutical sector is the large number of people involved – several engineers from the suppliers as well as the system and packaging engineers in the pharmaceutical company, all forming interdisciplinary teams. In addition, there are the experts from the machine manufacturers, with whom every technical process step must be coordinated. At Utz, we have to identify all the requirements so that a suitable process tray can be created. Without this strategic coordination, product developments can become very lengthy.
Our approach to this is the modular standard
We develop entire product families which are characterized by similar functional features and can be combined and have special interfaces for automatic handling. In this way, sub-processes can be securely linked with each other. Identical or compatible methods for transport, positioning, stacking, and identification form the basis for linking processes of multi-stage product manufacturing. This reduces overall investment, creates scalable processes, and shortens the time to market.
At Utz, we place ourselves at the center of the ecosystem of players and partners. Sales, design, and project management coordinate complex requirements and have made many pharma intralogistics projects in the pharmaceutical industry successful. The Utz sales and design team, usually involved at an early stage in the conception of the manufacturing process for a medical product, accompanies every step of the project process. Hand in hand from planning to realization, the desired functions of an Utz process tray are thus defined:
- mode of action,
- handling,
- identification,
- commissioning.
From planning to realization
Our design team develops initial tray concepts as an extended arm of our customers’ technical department, long before production or assembly machines are built. It is essential that we are involved in processes and design at an early stage to achieve maximum cost efficiency.
Global Utz presence and know-how
What value does the global Utz presence and know-how provide for the pharmaceutical customer? It is often observed that international pharmaceutical companies develop products and processes in the USA and then adopt them for Europe and Asia or vice versa. The many years of Utz industry experience in such projects, coupled with the recipe for projects without side effects with an international footprint in development and production across three continents, we generate great added value for our customers. We are the ideal partner for global roll-out programs in the pharmaceutical and med-tech industry.
Automation and sustainability
The combination of processes through automation significantly reduces the manual workload and enables real mass production with high throughput. The decisive factor for successful projects in this area is the precisely fitting, high-quality process tray or container, which holds the customer’s product in a defined orientation so that it can be removed and placed automatically by robots. This is how automation works, making the manufacturing process more efficient and increasing quality, as human intervention is no longer required, and everything can take place in a cleanroom environment.
In many cases, we also replace disposable solutions with reusable ones. The life cycle of an Utz tray in the pharmaceutical sector is usually 10 to 15 years. This makes the sector perfectly suited to the Utz reusable philosophy. At the end of their life, Utz trays and containers are even taken back, recycled, and the raw material obtained from them can be used again. The Utz circular economy is the ecological resource model of the future.
Mike Chiado has been with the company for 15 years. He works with many pharmaceutical customers on customized solutions. In order to maintain the high level of confidentiality in this industry, he provides general insight into the special requirements in the pharmaceutical sector.
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