Michael Barbella, Managing Editor12.07.21
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 this past February 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.”
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. Craig Occhiato, market segment/sales manager for Bürkert Fluid Control Systems' Micro Fluidic Segment, 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 current trends are shaping the medical device assembly and automation sector?
Craig Occhiato: Devices are smaller and sample sizes are smaller, so we have to automate process in much smaller volumes, which is a challenge to dose, aspirate, control, amplify, monitor, measure, clean, .... and still be mindful of costs. This proposes a fun challenge to our valves, pumps, and regulators that were designed for lab and medical application to adapt to smaller volumes.
We are working more with contract design and manufacturing firms.
Barbella: What factors are driving the need for automation in medical devices?
Occhiato: Outsourcing has increased as resources in people and products has become a challenge. We are also being asked more by OEMs and contract design and manufacturing firms to deliver not just our quality components but higher level assemblies and to collaborate early on in the design process. This aligns with the need to increase speed to market, supplier reduction, and improved quality.
Barbella: What new innovations have been developed within the medical device assembly and automation space? What specific market needs to these innovations address?
Occhiato: Some of the new technologies have come from spinoffs, startups, and universities but on a much more accelerated schedule.
Barbella: How did COVID-19 impact medical device assembly and automation processes or technology, if at all?
Occhiato: COVID-19 has definitely played a factor in accelerating automation for genomic-based technologies and devices, mainly with increased funding from governments and the private sector. The increased funding leads to motivation, momentum and speed. Since we are in the middle of a pandemic with many uncertainties of the timeline and path of the virus, many government bodies have lowered some hurdles, understanding that the time to market must be shortened which means less validation and a new view on benefits vs. risk to save lives.
With added funds and lower hurdles, resources are still needed to develop solutions, which is challenging during a pandemic. Many folks want to get back to what was normal before, but in these pandemic times we have learned some valuable lessons that will shape what our future will look like as we continue to accept the uncertain situation we are in. More risk has been taken—for example, to shorten validation time and remove the red tape, the results have been fine, so maybe the risk is not as big as we thought.
Barbella: How might medical device assembly and automation evolve over the next half-decade?
Occhiato: Many home-based devices and technologies developed or in development will stay and grow at a faster pace. Telehealth, point-of-care devices (example: single-use cartridge/chip based devices) are some examples.
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 this past February 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.”
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. Craig Occhiato, market segment/sales manager for Bürkert Fluid Control Systems' Micro Fluidic Segment, 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 current trends are shaping the medical device assembly and automation sector?
Craig Occhiato: Devices are smaller and sample sizes are smaller, so we have to automate process in much smaller volumes, which is a challenge to dose, aspirate, control, amplify, monitor, measure, clean, .... and still be mindful of costs. This proposes a fun challenge to our valves, pumps, and regulators that were designed for lab and medical application to adapt to smaller volumes.
We are working more with contract design and manufacturing firms.
Barbella: What factors are driving the need for automation in medical devices?
Occhiato: Outsourcing has increased as resources in people and products has become a challenge. We are also being asked more by OEMs and contract design and manufacturing firms to deliver not just our quality components but higher level assemblies and to collaborate early on in the design process. This aligns with the need to increase speed to market, supplier reduction, and improved quality.
Barbella: What new innovations have been developed within the medical device assembly and automation space? What specific market needs to these innovations address?
Occhiato: Some of the new technologies have come from spinoffs, startups, and universities but on a much more accelerated schedule.
Barbella: How did COVID-19 impact medical device assembly and automation processes or technology, if at all?
Occhiato: COVID-19 has definitely played a factor in accelerating automation for genomic-based technologies and devices, mainly with increased funding from governments and the private sector. The increased funding leads to motivation, momentum and speed. Since we are in the middle of a pandemic with many uncertainties of the timeline and path of the virus, many government bodies have lowered some hurdles, understanding that the time to market must be shortened which means less validation and a new view on benefits vs. risk to save lives.
With added funds and lower hurdles, resources are still needed to develop solutions, which is challenging during a pandemic. Many folks want to get back to what was normal before, but in these pandemic times we have learned some valuable lessons that will shape what our future will look like as we continue to accept the uncertain situation we are in. More risk has been taken—for example, to shorten validation time and remove the red tape, the results have been fine, so maybe the risk is not as big as we thought.
Barbella: How might medical device assembly and automation evolve over the next half-decade?
Occhiato: Many home-based devices and technologies developed or in development will stay and grow at a faster pace. Telehealth, point-of-care devices (example: single-use cartridge/chip based devices) are some examples.