Faulty Label Removal System from Newman Labelling Systems

The new Faulty Label Removal (FLR) System has been designed for use with Newman’s full range of labelling systems for the pharmaceutical industry.

THE ISSUE: FAULTY LABEL REMOVAL

In the application of labels onto containers by pharmaceutical labelling systems it may be necessary to identify and remove faulty labels from the process.  It is essential that all these faulty labels are removed and accounted for as in the pharmaceutical industry a faulty label could, quite literally, be a matter of life and death.  Give the wrong drug or dosage, or one that has an incorrect use by date, and the consequences could be dire. 

What goes on to a label (typically a batch number, expiry date or other variable information), how it’s printed, what type of label and its size, and what container type it is applied to vary tremendously, but all must be checked to ensure the information is accurate and readable.  This is done through the use of scanning devices, e.g. vision system for overprint checking, barcode readers etc.  Traditionally these methods of tracking faulty labels are performed after the label has been applied to the container, and if a fault is found the entire container is rejected; whilst effective, it is wasteful. 

The FLR System has been introduced in response to the growing demand within the international pharmaceutical industry for a labelling system to have a reliable and efficient system for removing faulty labels prior to application to a container.

THE TRADITIONAL METHOD

Removing faulty labels from the production line after the containers have been labelled has two main issues: either someone has to physically remove the label and glue which is very time consuming and fiddly, and almost impossible to remove the label in one piece (required for batch reconciliation); or the entire container and its contents are disposed of which is costly, especially considering the high cost of some of the drugs involved.  Of course, there are also disposal issues to take into account.

Neither of these options are ideal, so there has been demand from the pharmaceutical industry to remove faulty labels prior to application to the container.  The few systems that offer this functionality come with major drawbacks: many have to slow the labelling machine down to remove the faulty label prior to application and time, as they say, is money; and some systems accumulate faulty labels on top of each other on a sleeve, making physical reconciliation impossible. 

THE NEW METHOD USING THE NEWMAN FLR SYSTEM

The FLR (Patent pending) is a compact new system which overcomes the deficiencies of the existing systems, whilst fully satisfying the highest level of GMP Standards demanded by the industry.

The FLR System will remove a faulty label as designated by the labelling system PLC control and, should the system not receive “good signals” from the scanning devices in use (including bar code reader, missing overprint detector, OCV camera and 2D matrix code reader) the faulty label is securely removed from the label web prior to application onto the container.  In other words, it operates in a failsafe, positive accept mode rejecting all labels unless good results are received.

Good labels pass through the FLR to the stripper plate for application to the container. 

Faulty labels are rejected by a pneumatically operated stripper plate that peels them from the web backing for secure collection on to a paper roll for batch reconciliation and inspection.

As a further precautionary measure, reject verification is undertaken by a sensor that checks the paper tape for the presence of the rejected label and an additional sensor confirms the absence of the faulty label from the web backing exiting the FLR.

The Newman FLR is available as an optional extra on Newman Labelling systems.  It can handle both paper and clear labels and can be validated at production speeds up to 550 containers per minute (C.P.M.), with a full physical label reconciliation capability.

This method of faulty label removal is unique as it provides automatic and manual reconciliation as well as the benefit that the parent labelling system does not need to reduce operating speed to remove faulty labels.