Nutraceutical News

Establishing Safeguards

The Nutraceutical Industry has been subjected to more initiatives for ensuring public health and safety due to their consistent growth over the past 10 years.  With the Nutraceutical Industry having a wide range of products on the market to combat various illnesses, the Industry has been pushed to implement Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP).  The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), was adapted in 1994 and gave the right to halt the sale of litigious products, or take further action to protect the consumer.  Again in June of 2007, we saw another regulation which invited the Nutraceutical Industry to comply with 21CFR.11, requiring proper control to be put in place during manufacturing, packaging, labeling and holding operations.  With these two regulations alone the Nutraceutical Industry was faced with two choices: improve its process or risk being taken off the market.  It is no wonder today that we see more Electronic Verification Systems being put in place to safeguard the consumer and protect the manufacturer.

Productivity and Requirements

A major Nutraceutical Manufacturer approached Optel Vision for a solution to address their issues with labeling errors and increase the speed and efficiency of their operation.

The following requirements were determined:

• Confirm Label and Carton ID (human readable and/or bar code) 
  so that the label matches the package content
• Confirm Lot number identification (in case of a recall)
• Confirm Expiry date identification for the end-customer
• Ensure proper label placement on the bottle 
  (for brand image)
   

Line efficiency goals were also set:

• Decrease rework by 75% due to labeling error by early detection
• Increase speed of the labeler by 20% by removing human inspections
• Increase overall quality consistency by optimizing equipment settings 
  with feedback from Electronic Inspections
   

The Perfect Solution

The project manager was surprised with the price variance from suppliers.  Proposal reviews showed that the lowest price solution only included an off-the-shelf camera with integrated processing while the higher priced solution was a complete Turnkey Solution.

The off-the-shelf camera kit only included:

• Industrial Camera with Integrated lighting
• Software to be installed on a PC to configure the inspection
• Programming manual
• Free Training at a monthly seminar

The Turnkey proposal presented by a dedicated solution provider includes these extensive items:

• Project review and Specification consulting with the customer
• Mechanical design and manufacturing of all brackets and adjustments
• Ejection station with encoder, mechanical actuator, confirmation sensors and accumulation table
• Product tracking (including all sensors and brackets)
• Camera with adapted lighting  (including all cables and enclosures)
• Central PC control station for the operator interface and visual display of defects and alarms
• Personal On-site Integration and Training
• Field support by experts that are PMMI certified

Having past experience with control systems developed internally, the management team made it clear that the maintenance department was there to run the operation, not spend valuable time on developing new technologies.  Optel Vision was the sole choice to be the complete Turnkey Supplier for this fast and smooth integration process.
 

Profitable Implementation

Each packaging line is now 100% equipped with an Electronic Inspection system which continues to give outstanding results

• Line efficiency jumped by 10%
• Overall increase in quality
• Reduced rework
• Improved machine set-up
• IQ and OQ validation protocols run to the satisfaction of the QA
• The operators were able to see the benefits on the production line
• The Maintenance Department is now able to focus on preventive maintenance