Retrofit: Safety Guarding Design For Soap Manufacturing Line

Client Profile:
The client is a leading consumer goods company having products in Personal Care, Home Care, Foods and Refreshments.

Project Scope:

• Develop safety guarding design for mitigating hazard risks reported in the Risk Assessment for a soap manufacturing line

Design Group Approach:

• Modeled machine from measurements taken at site, understood site requirements and limitations, generated ideas for guarding that met both requirements – hazard mitigation and site limitation
• Reviewed and shortlisted idea, detailed design, design reviews for ease of implementation, ease of maintenance and ease of manufacturing
• Delivered 3D models, 2D detailed drawings and Bill-of-Material

Results:

• Delivered an ergonomic design of the guards, complying with Machine Safety requirements identified in the Risk Assessment report
• Design optimized for weight for cost benefits

Line Automation – Automated Assembly Line

Client Profile:
The client is a major pharmaceutical company specializing in the development and manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals.

Project Scope:

• Conceptual design for automating the unpacking of components, for feeding them to an assembly line to eliminate human touchpoints and improve hygiene

Design Group Approach:

• Examined current state and desired future state - upstream and downstream activities, deriving specifications for the future state automated line 
• Identified off-the-shelf solutions, developed custom designs for realizing the future state and for removal of packing materials from the line 
• Identified and integrated AGVs for component transportation
• Integrated all the above solutions into a conceptual design  
• Validated conceptual design through trials
• Provided budgetary estimates for design and manufacturing of conceptual design

Results:

• Provided a fully automated solution (zero touchpoints) to integrate into the existing floor plan, with the following benefits: 
  • Just-In-Time supply to the assembly line
  • Less than a 12-month ROI
  • Automated handling of packaging material for compacting and disposal

Capacity Expansion and New Product Introduction Projects

Design Group supports industry-leading beverage producers with upgrades to their existing production systems to expand capacity, increase flexibility and improve OEE. Projects include the implementation of a variety of new technologies and packaging containers such as: in-house injection molding and bottle manufacturing, introduction of light-weighted or specialty bottles and caps, new labeling technologies (shrink/ROSO, sleeve), secondary operations such as ‘club packs’, tray, tray-shrink, shrink-pad and bundle applications, and robotic palletizing all integrated with new MES/SCADA systems to track and report on line performance.

Food Packaging Engineering

Design Group support for Food Industry packaging projects spans 20 years and a variety of products, services and applications. We have experience in the areas of Snack Foods, Baked Goods, and Pastries, to Cheese and Dairy Products, Chocolate and Confections, Sauces, Dressings and Soups. Our professionals recognize that food packaging projects require an understanding of how to handle both the product and the package, in addition to a knowledge of how the product is made and the environment it is made within. Design Group applies our packaging system knowledge together with our processing, facility and utility experience to specify and implement food packaging solutions that seamlessly integrate with the production process and facility.

High Speed Beverage Lines

Design Group delivers extensive experience in the design, integration and implementation of new beverage lines. With 25 years of industry experience, our expertise covers a wide-range of container types and shapes including glass (round, non-round and reverse taper), light weight PET, PET, HDPE (round and non-round), aluminum bottles and barrier PET(round and non-round), at rates from 50 to 1200 bottles per minute. Applications includes carbonated drinks, water, wine, beer, distilled spirits, juices, and dairy, covering a wide range of standards inclusive of aseptic, extended shelf life, 3A, intrinsically safe, cold fill, hot fill, blow-fill, pasteurized, retorted and nitrogen flushed products.

High Speed Solid Dosage Filling and Packaging Lines

Design Group delivers integrated turnkey solid dosage lines for major pharmaceutical manufacturers on expedited schedules. Typical projects include OEM equipment specification and procurement, off-site integration and pre-qualification, installation, training, startup, and validation.

Home, Personal Care, and House Products

Design Group offers a wide-range of engineering services to the home, personal care, and household products industries. These services pertain to the design, integration and implementation of packaging systems including shampoo and conditioner, body wash, cosmetics, lotions, deodorant, body spray, toothpaste, bar and liquid soap, detergents, household cleaners, aerosols, air fresheners and various other products. Typical project applications include feasibility studies, site master plans, preliminary engineering, capital grade cost estimates, line relocations, line upgrades for new packages, site consolidations, equipment replacements, new line designs and engineering augmentation support.