Filling Overall Equipment Effectiveness Demands

Filling equipment can use sensors to monitor processes, generating data that could help users determine their efficiency. Photo of the RS 24 Series Syringe Filler courtesy ProSys.

With competition bearing down on pharmaceutical companies in the United States, these companies must be­come more efficient during production operations, including pack­­age-filling lines. One particular production philosophy has made great strides in the industry, enabling pharmaceutical companies to maximize their use of critical machinery and cut costs. The concept is Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). OEE is a lean manufacturing concept that enables production managers to prevent breakdowns and production line bottlenecks before they happen. It can help reduce equipment changeover times and cut product waste. The key to this concept is data gathering and analysis, a methodology that offers managers the ability to act before problems occur.

“OEE has been used in the food and beverage industry for at least 20 years, but it is fairly new to the pharmaceutical industry,” affirms Daniel Lapierre, vice president of NJM/CLI Packaging Systems International (Montreal; U.S. headquarters are in Lebanon, NH). “In the past, not too many pharmaceutical companies were using OEE because increasing efficiency was not a big concern. This was because of the high profit margins on products, [with] many new products coming out all the time. But now, with generic products becoming more available and [fewer] new products being generated, product packaging efficiency is becoming more of a factor,” he continues. “Pharmaceutical companies are now looking for ways to cut equipment costs. OEE is a good tool to monitor and control efficiencies. Therefore, I think we’re going to see more and more emphasis on OEE.”

One manufacturer of high-speed bottle-filling equipment, tooling, and change parts, Service Industries LLC (Rolling Meadows, IL), builds OEE into its equipment whenever possible. “I think it’s fair to say that most filling equipment manufacturers build their equipment with OEE in mind,” says Service Industries President Joel Gray. “One thing that we try to focus on in regard to OEE is to reduce changeover time. If a pharmaceutical company can reduce its setup time from one run to another, it is going to be much more efficient and increase machine availability. OEE is a framework with which a pharmaceutical company can make production improvements, and then see whether equipment is becoming more efficient. OEE puts the focus on key areas, such as machine availability, machine performance, and product quality.”

OEE requirements seem to be an overriding factor in many equipment purchase decisions. “We try to build our machinery with OEE in mind,” maintains Morris Bekerman, technical director for
Cozzoli Machine Co. (Somerset, NJ). “OEE data tell equipment users where bottlenecks or weak areas are so they can be ad­dressed quickly and efficiently. OEE data, therefore, are important as a pre­­­ventive measure. There may not be enough product supply in the tank. So the data that the machine puts out will tell operators when a machine stops and [why] it stopped.”

By reviewing these data, operators will be able to prevent the same situation next time. “There is a 100% CWS [check-weight system] that tells the operator how the production is going, so based on that, they can analyze the system. This is part of our standard software, which tells machine operators and managers what’s going on with each batch at any given time,” says Bekerman.

For many years, pharmaceutical suppliers didn’t worry about equipment breakdowns until they happened. When they did, everyone was thrown into panic mode until a fix could be found. This is not the case when OEE is implemented. “What’s new about OEE is that pharmaceutical companies can now tie all of these data into their complete production systems, and then all of the data can be analyzed at the plant level,” explains Thomas Seifert, president of Optima Machinery Corp. (Green Bay, WI). “In this way, they can optimize the whole production line, not just a single piece of equipment. And control­lers and sensors are now faster and more precise, so product checks can be done in fractions of a second, which assists the OEE effort. So, the data are better now and can be collected more quickly.”

Many different types of sensors are now installed in machines to monitor production input and output. “There’s more and more demand for machine intelligence these days, so we try to build it into our equipment whenever we can,” says Seifert. “In addition, FDA requires more and more information from pharmaceutical suppliers, so OEE data collection helps with FDA data collection.”

Service Industries’s new SureFill 300 bottle filler is designed for fast changeover.

Other equipment manufacturers agree with Seifert’s assessment about FDA data collection. “In the pharmaceutical field, managers need this OEE information more than managers in other industries,” says Don Sonntag, division manager for ProSys Innovative Packaging Equipment (Webb City, MO). “I think part of the reason is that they have to validate their products and processes.”

Sonntag says that his company gives customers the ability to connect to plant computer systems so that they can do real-time data collection. “We can put together, through our control package, an uplink to company computer systems,” Sonntag explains. “The machine’s sensors record time, date, duration, and frequency of specific events that happen. If they check the data regularly, they can find parts that might be starting to wear out, and then order them ahead of time. In this way, they can order the parts and schedule in maintenance before it creates a problem in the middle of a production run.”

The SureFill 300 bottle filler from Service Industries has an open frame for total access.

One equipment manufacturer has noticed during the past few years that clients want more equipment information. “We now have a lot of customers asking for operating manuals, instruction sheets, maintenance schedules, and validation support to help them understand what they need to do to keep their machinery running more efficiently,” says Dirk Balter, director of engineering for M & O Perry (Corona, CA). “The manual that we once gave out was only 50 pages. It’s now more than 200 pages.”

Nowadays, possibly because of the influence of OEE, pharmaceutical companies seem to be taking more of an upfront approach to maintenance and repairs. “What OEE is about is avoiding problems before they happen,” Balter explains. “Some people wait until something happens, and then they panic to get the machine back into operation. OEE can help them set up regular maintenance and repair schedules to prevent downtime. For instance, maybe a capping mechanism has not been working properly,” Balter adds. “With good data analysis, managers can have maintenance staff take action quickly to fix the mechanism.”

ProSys offers equipment for filling dual-chamber syringes and cartridges.

These days, most pharmaceutical equipment manufacturers install programmable logic controllers (PLC) into their equipment for data gathering. The PLC is usually connected to a dedicated PC, allowing the data in the PC to be shared through downloading to other computers networked throughout the plant. “There is dedicated software we use in our PCs for data collection, which is preconfigured with the right calculations to give users the reports they need,” says Orlando Canhoto, electrical designer at NJM/CLI. “The PLC device has to be set up in advance to use the data from the dedicated software. Therefore, when we program the PLCs, we consider what data will need to be captured for OEE. In 2003, we implemented new PLC software with OEE in mind. Quite often, we integrate OEE and line monitoring together when we send out new machinery, because our customers request it from us.”

It’s apparent that OEE is becoming a prominent method of avoiding breakdowns, cost overruns, and inefficiency. As this useful concept continues to be implemented, greater efficiencies will no doubt occur.

David Gaines is a freelance writer based in Long Beach, CA. He has more than 30 years of experience in publishing and journalism.