A faster track to the vaccine

To speed up the provision of, for example, COVID-19 vaccines even more, HERMA has for the first time created the option for a continuous labeling process on its wrap-around labeler 132M HC. With the new EasySplicer and EasyCutter modules, the label reels can be changed and the backing paper reels disposed of practically without the machine having to come to a standstill, as had been the case up to now. In the EasySplicer, two label reels are arranged vertically, one above the other. The respectively active label web is guided over a splicing table, where it is fixed at the end of the label web. Since the EasySplicer is equipped with a label buffer, the labeler will continue to run even when it reaches the end of the label web. A skilled operator can then carry out the splicing process in such a way that the new label web is spliced to the fixed web before the buffer runs out. If the operator should fail, the machine stops automatically and can be started up manually. The EasyCutter, on the other hand, makes it possible to vacuum up the empty backing paper and chop it into small pieces. The shreds are collected automatically and can be recycled. The manual removal of the rewinded backing paper web is no longer required. “With EasySplicer and EasyCutter, downtimes on the 132M HC caused by reel changes can be reduced to a minimum, and ideally even be completely avoided,” Ulrich Fischer, Head of Product Management at HERMA, emphasizes.

Trimmed for high cycle rates right from the beginning

Keeping downtimes caused by reel changes as low as possible makes a lot of sense for one simple reason: “Given the 400 cycles currently being used, a typical label roll with 5,000 labels is emptied in just over ten minutes," says Fischer. While it’s true that the HERMA 500 applicator, the core piece of the labeling machine, was designed for rapid reel changes from the outset, the individual downtimes still add up in a three-shift operation, especially since not only the label reel has to be changed, but also the empty backing paper web has to be disposed of. With the HERMA 500, increasing the speed (the number of cycles) would be no problem. "The limiting factor is due to the printing systems that have to apply, for example, the expiration date and batch number," Fischer explains. From the outset, the wrap-around labeler 132M HC was designed with the requirements of round pharmaceutical and healthcare products in mind, such as glass vials with correspondingly high quantities. These also include measures for the optimization of overall system efficiency, such as innovative rotary tables, digital position indicators and format sets that can be changed without tools for fast format changes, as well as operation of the entire machine, including the camera and printer, via an industrial panel PC (IPC) and thereby for the first time via a single monitor.