Case Study: Labelling test tube carriers in Pharmaceutical Industry

Offering a labelling solution even when there is restricted space on the product.

VEBICODE are a reseller of Cab founded by Sergio Ventura and Marco Bigiolli and based in Switzerland. They have many years’ experience within the industry and bring this knowledge to a recent meeting with Cab GmbH to discuss labelling within the pharmaceutical industry and its challenges.

Cab GmbH met with Marco Bigiolli at VEBICODE headquarters in Rapperswil, Switzerland. The meeting was to discuss process reliability and fully automatic labelling of test tube carriers.

Mr. Bigiolli, with regards to labelling, no product or application is similar. Do you agree?

Bigiolli: Definitely agree! When it comes to coding and labelling, every industry has its own challenges.

Let us be more specific. What are the most important requirements in the case of product labelling?

Bigiolli: Environmental conditions may be difficult. There are continuous processes, rigid instructions, high-speed production lines and many products and types of packaging.

At the moment we are looking at the pharmaceutical industry in particular, do you have an example of a recent application?

Bigiolli: Whether it is the pharmaceutical industry, medical technology or laboratory equipment – test tubes, Petri dishes and further acrylic glass products are ubiquitous. We have just been contacted by an engineering office for a truly demanding customer project. It was about precisely applying 50mm x 10mm labels to test tube carriers. These are racks, in which tubes with possibly important or even life-sustaining substances can held. Since there is only a small amount of space where the label can be applied a labelling system was needed that copes with small tolerances.

What solution has been chosen?

Bigiolli: We are a reseller of Cab GmbH labelling products and they are known for excellent quality. There is such a wide range of products available that we decided to work closely with Cab GmbH to deliver a product that worked best for the customer’s specific needs. This was the most important thing for us! For this installation we have opted for a cab Hermes+4 print and apply system with swing applicator 3214 and a custom made pad. The Hermes+ is specifically designed for fully automatic printing and applying in production lines.

As you have mentioned ‘fully automatic labelling’, how is the label applied to the test tube carrier?

Bigiolli: The applicator 3214 is applies the label from the side, the pad at the applicator is positioned in front of the peel off edge. The label is picked up while printing and a rotating cylinder turns it to the required position. The label is then positioned onto the test tube carrier via a stroke cylinder. Both the pivoting angle and linear stroke are individually adjustable. As you can see, the finished application of the label to this unusual product is fully automatic and precise. It works perfectly!

To read the full user report go to:

https://www.cab.de/en/news-events/news/case-study-3214/?activity=pn1506en