New Serialization System Increases Throughput 500%

(Springfield, MO) - New serialization rules coming in the next few years have added costs in labor and error correction for pharmaceutical manufacturers. “Each time a new step is added in the process is another opportunity for a mistake to be made,” said Scott Heffern, Senior VP of Products at Custom Powder Systems. When creating the Serialization Aggregation Workstation, Custom Powder and RemTech solved multiple problems at once while strictly complying with DSCDA mandates.  

“Bottles getting separated from packages, and packages getting separated from pallets is the source of many of the errors,” said John Hartwig, Principal of RemTech. Starting with the end in mind, they figured out a way to eliminate the number of times an item needed to be handled and ensured that serial scanning happened at the last moment before packing.

The Serialization Aggregation Workstation, or SAW, was designed to take up much less space than older assembly line systems. This allows companies the opportunity to make the needed upgrades to their systems without needing additional space. In many cases, according to Hartwig , companies get back usable space when upgrading to SAW.

In creating SAW, two other benefits became apparent. First, companies that had been seeing output of 1 to 2 cases per minute, are now seeing an impressive increase of up to 10 cases per minute—nearly a 500% jump. Secondly, because fewer hands are needed on the packaging, personnel are able to be reassigned to other areas and projects.

Because SAW works in such an efficient and nearly closed system, labeling, scanning, packaging, and scanning again occur within moments of each other. By the time new serialization regulations are in place in 2023, companies using this new system will be running efficiently and in complete DSCDA compliance.

###

For more information contact: Doug Hesterly at Custom Powder Systems, (417) 868-8857.