Hikma Farmaceutica (Lisbon)
Client
Founded in 1978, Hikma have grown to become a multi-billion-dollar global business, providing high quality and affordable medicines to those that require them around the world.
Background
Hikma initially made direct contact with our Japanese manufacturer, Fuji Machinery & Co Ltd., looking for a packaging solution for IV bags. Fuji in turn recommended Paramount Packaging Systems due to our European location and strong reputation within the pharmaceutical and medical device industries.
Hikma were looking to replace an existing, slower off line IV bag wrapper with a new packaging line, capable of being directly connected to the production line. Their requirement was to also automate the infeed to the wrapper and therefore reducing the number of operators required to run the complete line.
The User Requirement Specification (URS) issued by Hikma included a requirement to label and code the packs with the ability to read and verify the printed information. Fadi Bannayan, Operations Supervisor at Hikma, explained that the packaging had to be hermetically-sealed to ensure shelf life, protect the product and also offer a simple opening mechanism.
Solution
Sales Director at Paramount Packaging Systems Ltd, Aaron Bessell, met with Fadi to discuss the requirements of Hikma in more detail. Following this meeting, trials with the customer’s film and product on a demonstration wrapper was carried out at Paramount’s UK headquarters to prove the packing speeds and pack integrity, with samples produced and tested by Hikma. It was then agreed that due to the weight of the product, and taking into account previous pharmaceutical experiences, an inverted Fuji FW3710BSB stainless steel Alpha 8 wrapper was recommended. An attachless belt infeed was installed to allow automatic feeding of the IV bags from the customer leak tester and into the wrapper with no operator intervention.
The now installed Fuji FW3710BSB Alpha 8 fully stainless steel flow wrapper with box motion end seal allows for the full range of IV bags to be wrapped, with product and film changeovers taking less than 2 minutes. The superior temperature control, 3 level security on the HMI, full servo motor control and stainless steel construction, which complies with the necessary regulations, was a huge selling point for Hikma.
The Fuji box motion end seal machine creates a fully hermetically-sealed pack, whilst also giving Hikma the production efficiencies that they’ve craved. The infeed system has an innovative feature, allowing the bags to be turned automatically into the correct orientation without the need for operator intervention.
Outcome
The newly improved line is in full production now and Hikma couldn’t be more pleased with their packaging system. The high speed flow wrapper has resulted in them exceeding their production targets, which is fantastic news. We very much look forward to working with Hikma on their next project