The timing couldn’t have been better.
 
Three years ago, NuTec Tooling Systems Inc. began building a syringe coating machine for a large pharmaceutical firm. The client wanted to mass produce plastic syringes with a glass-like coating to provide an alternative to the more costly glass versions typically manufactured by its competitors.
 
The machine NuTec constructed included four Epson Cleanroom SCARA robots (developed by Epson Robots), each of which were strategically placed at various points in the apparatus to precisely and cost-effectively automate the syringe manufacturing process.
 
The automated process coats syringes at a rate of 38 parts per minute, passes the parts through various inspection stations, then siliconizes the hypodermics before changing temporary caps to final caps and subjecting them to a final X-ray inspection. The robots handle the syringes both before and after their glass-like coating is applied; in the final stages, the robots apply inner and outer covers to full containers of syringes and applies labels with a laser marker.
 
The machine was operational in November 2020, enabling NuTec’s pharmaceutical customer to work with the government and manufacture massive quantities of syringes for use in battling COVID-19.
 
“Epson’s high-speed G6-Series SCARA robots with Epson RC+ software enable precision processes with exceptional repeatability assembly pick and place capabilities,” Brent Martz, NuTec Tooling Systems sales and marketing director, said in an Epson news release. “The ease of use and application versatility within the Epson RC+ development environment plus an ISO-3 rating and compliance with cleanroom standards makes them ideal for this project and the medical sector in general, where speed and precision are vital to the manufacturing process.” Bürkert
 
Indeed, speed and precision are vital to medtech manufacturing, particularly as the types of medical devices that can be automatically assembled are constantly expanding. MPO’s feature “Complex Coupling” details the trends and market forces impacting the medtech assembly/automation sector. Al Neumann, automated manufacturing systems manager at SMC Ltd., was among the more than half-dozen experts interviewed for the feature; his full input is provided in the following Q&A:
 
Michael Barbella: What factors are driving the need for automation in medical devices?
Al Neumann: Automation is not only a labor-saving tool, it also offers repeatability, in-line inspection, and tracking. Many of the workcells designed by our in-house Automated Manufacturing Systems group feature redundant inspections that check to make sure previous assembly steps were completed rather than finding non-conforming parts at a final inspection station. Machine vision systems and sensors that return analog results spot shifting trends in the assembly process and catch potential issues early.
 
Barbella: What new capabilities have been added to automated medical device assembly in recent years?
Neumann: For a few years now, we have included a Remote Maintenance Module utilizing WiFi communication that allows our programmers to connect to off-site equipment. From our offices in Wisconsin, we’ve recently been able to quickly troubleshoot a workcell in our Costa Rica facility resulting in minimal machine downtime.

Barbella: What are some of the challenging aspects of medical device assembly and automation?
Neumann: One of our current workcells produce products that will be inspected to USP 788 and 790 requirements. Very little particulate can be generated by motion of workcell components, workcell component interaction with parts to be assembled or interaction between assembly parts themselves. Special considerations must be made in selecting mechanisms used for our build.

Barbella: How did COVID-19 impact medical device assembly and automation processes or technology, if at all?
Neumann: COVID-19 has of course, impacted many medical device manufacturers.  Overcoming the labor shortage and high demands for testing equipment kits and components was only possible with automated assembly and inspection cells. Outside automation integrators and in-house teams all stepped up to meet worldwide demands, though machine component delivery times were, and still are, longer than usual.