GE Healthcare partners with FANUC UK

When GE Healthcare was looking to transform a packaging line, partnering with a robotic company proved highly successful

GE Healthcare, manufacturer of medical technologies and services for the healthcare industry needed to transform an ageing packaging line for its signature Drytec product, a generator of the injectable radio nuclide TC99m used in hospitals all over the world for patient diagnostic imaging.

The company decided that it needed a new handling and packaging solution. Its existing packaging facility was struggling to keep up with demand, with the short lifetime of the product requiring a 24 hour turnaround to ensure timely patient care. Packing line components were becoming outdated and/or unavailable and required extensive modification to repair or upgrade. GE Healthcare needed a quick and efficient way of increasing the production output and at the same time ensuring safety due to the radioactive composition of the product. The company realised it had to respond rapidly to improve its packaging line processes without disrupting current operations. 

The solution

GE Healthcare partnered with Fanuc UK to build and install a reliable and safe solution for its packing line. In conjunction with GE Healthcare, Fanuc designed the complete solution and a Fanuc facility in Rugby was used to build and test the packing line, including fully mocked-up shield walls, for an extensive FAT (Factory Acceptance Test). The test demonstrated functionality of all robotic end-effectors, product throughput time and the software managing the scheduling and product tracking through the system to despatch and shipping. For the above mentioned software, Fanuc commissioned Solcom, provider of industrial software and systems, to deliver this aspect of the project. Validation of the system was completed in-house.

Once the automated packaging process was successfully installed and operational, the finished Drytec products were collected from the manufacturing production line and loaded onto the packaging line in stillages. The packing materials were pre-loaded onto the line during non-production, after which the packing process ran automatically, packing the Drytec generators, associated ancillary box and paper documentation into the individually labelled shipping boxes, followed by palletising and wrapping.  Shipment inventory documents are created for each pallet. A range of Drytec generators are available, with each order individually manufactured and packed with appropriate literature for the destination country. A total of six Fanuc robots were integrated into this solution.

The software provided by Solcom, working in conjunction with visual barcode reading and OCR was integrated into several stages of the packaging process ensuring that only the correct product could ever be shipped to a given address, whilst managing and prioritising delivery for clients around the world. 

Workflow sequence

Benefits 

Previously the unreliable automation caused a high degree of manual intervention to the line, increasing operator radiation dose rates. Also occasional failure of the plant for even a few hours directly impacted supply to the end customer, resulting in cancelled patient appointments. Using robots to automate the packaging vastly improves the line reliability and reduces risk.

The automated solution ensures a consistent flow in the packing line with zero outages, and guaranteed timely delivery of the product to the end user. At the same time, reductions in manual handling reduced operator dose rate, and improved working conditions.

Outcomes

Since the installation of the plant in January 2014 manual handling and rework has gone down from 10% to 1% and much needed capacity for growth has been created; with the ability to produce in excess of 500 generators per eight hour shift.

Robert Scivier, technical authority for controls & instrumentation, GE Healthcare said: ‘We chose twork with Fanuc due to its reputation as the world’s leading provider of automation solutions. Fanuc was able to supply us with a safe and reliable end-to-end packaging process and at the same time support and maintain existing operations. The new robotics packaging line supplied represents a significant step forward for our supply chain. It has delivered major improvements to our manufacturing operation through improved reliability and the ability to meet regulatory expectations and safeguards, whilst reducing manual handling/dose uptake for operators and ensuring capacity for future growth. In short, it has been a major success.”