Medical Device Link.

Originally Published EMDM May/June 2002

PACKAGING EQUIPMENT

An integrated wound-care dressing fabrication and pouch-packaging line is designed to provide medical manufacturers with product flexibility, rapid changeovers, and high throughput. The system was introduced by Doyen Medipharm Ltd. (Barton, Cambs, UK) at the recent MEDTEC trade show in Stuttgart, Germany. The company showed dressings being fabricated on its PD120 machine, which were then transferred to the 4SS four-side-seal packaging unit. Fabrication speeds can attain 200 units per hour, and the servo-driven machines have a patented design that ensures control of all validated sealing parameters.

The firm also introduced several enhancements to its 4SS packaging machine that will minimize machine downtime and reduce product waste, according to group chairman Alan Isaacs. Isaacs cited the unit's in-feed speed profiling to "prevent the dressings from bunching up," and electronic web-tension control among the noteworthy features. The web-tensioning system reduces curling of the packaging and ensures that sealing characteristics remain identical regardless of reel size. A pressure adjustment system on the side-seal rollers enables the operator to rapidly and precisely repeat settings during product changeover. Changeovers can be performed in less than 10 minutes, notes Isaacs, and the machine has the flexibility to pack a range of products including dressings, diagnostic devices, drapes, catheters, and sutures at speeds up to 400 packs per minute.

The new features, which are standard on all 4SS machines, can also be fitted to existing machinery in the field.

Copyright ©2002 European Medical Device Manufacturer