SOLUTIONS
10
Digital blister lid foil printing:
Reduced setup times, lower costs
For small batches: DoD UV inkjet printing is more efficient than flexography, says
Helmut Schneider, Product Group Manager Pharma & Packaging Solutions.
Production runs for blister lid foil printing
medicine are then being produced.
inevitably increasing in number as
are becoming ever shorter. The efficiency
Furthermore, many pharmaceutical
production runs become shorter. Flexo
of flexographic printing, with its relatively
companies are affected by the expiry of
printing’s key strength – the lower costs
long setup times, is suffering as a result.
patents on their blockbuster drugs. As
of printing ink – is practically cancelled
Fully digital drop on demand UV inkjet
they search for new best-sellers, more
out. Instead, downtimes become longer
printing technology can keep the costs in
clinical trials are required which also
and high operating costs result, without
check even with small and medium-size
involve relatively small batch sizes. In
the user being able to reap the original
batches.
addition, each country has its own
benefit in return.
Until now, pharmaceutical
regulations concerning the printing of
Simply by loading a PDF
producers, packaging service providers
blister packs e.g. concerning warning
and foil manufacturers have primarily
statements or symbols. All these reasons
used UV flexography for printing blister
are factors in a trend that will see batch
DoD UV inkjet digital printing offers an
lid foil. Its advantages come into play
sizes become even smaller, often falling
economically highly attractive alternative.
with long production runs and large batch
below 100,000 blisters per production
DoD stands for drop on demand. Piezo-
sizes in particular. As long as changeovers
run.
electric components fire tiny droplets of
caused by different production jobs are
At the same time, the production
ink through microscopic apertures onto
infrequent, the costs of consumables
procedures and packaging processes in
the substrate being printed. Dried by UV
and printing ink in particular are what
the pharmaceutical industry are already
light in a fraction of a second, the printing
determine a plant’s efficiency. But as the
highly standardized and very efficiently
on many different materials is extremely
number of changeovers rises, the high
organized. Increasing the pure speed
durable and offers good resistance to
downtimes and setup times that occur
of the line is often no longer feasible
abrasion and solvents. Building on this
with flexo printing assume much greater
economically and would at any rate
technology, Atlantic Zeiser has developed
proportions, so that the costs for printing
produce only marginal improvements in
the DIGILINE Blister, a fully digital
ink then become virtually irrelevant. And
efficiency. A production plant’s efficiency
system for printing blister lid foil up to
a clear trend is now emerging towards
therefore primarily depends on the
330 mm wide that can easily be inte-
ever smaller production runs in future.
number and duration of its idle times –
grated inline into blister packaging
There are various reasons for this. On the
for changeovers, for instance, that are
machines. Its production speed of up to
one hand, medicine and drug budgets in
many countries are coming under
substantial pressure, so that pharmaceutical companies are having to contend
with reduced margins. In such a situation
the aim is to minimize the amount of
capital tied up in stock, in this instance
either in the form of pre-printed lid foil
and/or products ready for shipment that
are not immediately required. On the
other, it is evident that a growing number
of preparations are being tailored to suit
specific patient groups, for instance to
match patients’ typical clinical picture, or
according to sex, age, lifestyle etc.
Significantly smaller quantities of each
11
30 meters per minute matches the
There are also maintenance considera-
maximum performance of a conventional
tions that should not be overlooked: the
blister packaging machine. As an option,
DIGILINE Blister’s contactless inkjets are
the system is also available in a near-line
subject to little or no wear. An automatic
variant and as a roll-to-roll offline version
cleaning function ensures the print heads
for pre-production and just-in-time
are ready for operation. The actual cleaning
provision to several packaging lines.
process only takes around half a minute
The key benefit of DoD UV inkjet
and is automated, that is to say, the
technology is that, unlike flexography, it
cleaning results are always reproducible –
does not involve any time-consuming
and the life of the print heads is practically
mechanical effort, such as required to
unlimited.
The UV special ink that is used
change, clean, store and retrieve the print
With setups that take just
two minutes rather than
an hour, the DIGILINE
Blister can therefore print
small and medium-size
production runs with up
to 100,000 blisters very
cost-effectively.
mats, for instance. To start a new print
for printing with the DIGILINE Blister is
job on the DIGILINE Blister, a new PDF
designed for high sealing temperatures
simply has to be loaded. Whereas with a
and is suitable for both rotary and platen
conventional flexo printing system a good
sealing. The quantity of ink can be
hour (and therefore several thousand
adjusted to suit the special characteristics
euros) must be allowed on average for a
of a particular foil. Alternative foil materials
product changeover including organiza-
e.g. Tyvek can also be printed with the
across several locations – for example for
tional input, the same task takes no
system. So users need not accept
the administration and allocation of jobs,
longer than two minutes with the
compromises as regards print quality.
recording of audit trail information or the
DIGILINE Blister. The system already has
The DIGILINE Blister is capable of
setup and management of user rights.
an original PDF processing algorithm
faithfully reproducing even complex
installed for job setups, so that additional
Asian scripts and very small fonts down to
fewer opportunities for flexo printing to
software or hardware are not necessary.
4 point thanks to a native PDF resolution
exploit its strengths because batches are
If demand for a particular printing variant
of 600 x 600 dpi. Because the printing
getting noticeably smaller. Short setup
arises at short notice, it can be met almost
system is digital, additional information
times and the low operating costs of the
instantly and with limited stocks – a major
such as expiry date and lot number or
entire system then give fully digital
advantage, especially for service providers.
even variable datamatrix codes can be
printing technology the edge, without the
easily applied. Although hybrid flexogra-
user having to make concessions.
phic machines have in the meantime
Atlantic Zeiser has proved how this
become available that can do this too,
works: for printing small to medium-size
the other drawbacks of flexography
batches of up to around 100,000 blisters,
remain.
the DIGILINE Blister is currently one of
Low operating costs,
minimum wear
As well as the simple job setup, the
the most cost-efficient systems.
DIGILINE Blister is also characterized by
relatively low operating costs: on the one
hand, the cost of sourcing flexo print
To sum up, there are fewer and
Smooth exchange
of information
mats and the associated logistical input
for their installation, removal, cleaning
Not only can the DIGILINE Blister
and storage is eliminated. On the other,
exchange production-related data with
the UV-A lamps for the DoD inkjet
the entire packaging line, but it can
printing are based on LED technology
also be completely controlled via the
and last around ten times longer than the
user interface of the blister packaging
UV-C curing lamps used in flexography,
machine. A further advantage is the
that is to say for up to 20,000 operating
option of connection to Atlantic Zeiser’s
hours. Furthermore, the UV-A LED
MEDTRACKER serialization software via
technology uses considerably less
the VDMA-XML interface, thus permitting
energy and notably does not need an
optimum integration in the workflow.
extraction system for the large volume of
MEDTRACKER can function as the
heat that arises with conventional UV-C
central platform for the production
dryers.
management of several plants – including