Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/769284
owing the IMA personnel. When it came time for the final validation runs, Amway staff ran the line with over- sight from the IMA people, he said. The installation was complete in March 2014, and qualifying it took 2 months. Salable production began in September, after the softgel facility was ready. Tracking performance The heart of the line is IMA's Uni- line, a compact monoblock mach- ine that does desiccant feeding, filling with an electronic counter, cottoning, and capping. IMA also supplied equip- ment for the back of the line, which includes metal detection, laser-coding, labeling, and case packing. "We've had really good success with the filler and operators like using it," DeVries said. "One feature that has been very well received is the change- over procedure. The HMI walks the operator through each step of the process and even automates several of the adjustments." Another valuable feature is the "mainline HMI," which acts as the line's central control center. It enables users to control conveyor speeds, bot- tle spacing, and collect data from all equipment from one location. That information is then fed back into one central station and the operator can see how the line is running as a whole and make adjustments, DeVries said. After the installation was complete, Amway asked IMA to help integrate new data-collection software that was being rolled out at several Amway manufacturing sites. The software tracks real-time machine performance and reports data that can be used to identify the root cause of downtime. In addition, the data enable managers to foresee where problems could arise and take action to avoid them, DeVries said. "The goal is to continu- ously improve the line efficiency, speed up changeover times, and reduce downtime." The lines fill 20 to 140 bottles per minute, depending on the bottle sizes and the count, DeVries said. The large 300-count bottles take more time than the the 30-count bottles of small soft- gels, which go fast. Of course, count accuracy is paramount. "We've had really good success with the filler being accurate and producing the cor- rect count," he said. The filler's accuracy stems from its redundant infrared counting system and its electrostatic-field sensors that both produce and measure an electro- static field. The sensors distinguish between whole and partial tablets and softgels and allow only whole prod- ucts to be included. Changeover in 1 hour The lines fill softgels and tablets, and the transition from a softgel to a 38 January 2017 Tablets & Capsules 250D LIS- ellenc c x ngineering E E armo achine in H an and M M e: c y on 250D LIS enefits es and B eature F • d n s a e l u s p a , c s t e l b a n t s o t n i r P s l e g t of s • d e t a n i m i l k e n y i d b e s u a s c t c e fe e D y mprinting S I UV Laser ste • o g in t in r p im le ib x le F • f t o s n co u d r e c u d e R • a s s e c e g n n i n a e l o c N • f r u s e l ab t n ri p r ge ar L • e r p e h t r o f fo l a i nt ote P g n i t i e f r nte u o c s n o i t p o g n i t n i r p m f i y r a e ac f f o n o i nt e ev om aps.c ormation f n Visit qualicaps.c e in mor or f IN MADE AN AP J The addition of a "mainline HMI" allows operators to trace the source of problems from a central location.