Colorpak, a leading supplier of high end printed packaging to the pharmaceutical market, has recently invested in new vision inspection equipment for its flexibles division based in Regents Park. Colorpak’s flexibles facility is among the first in the world to install the German engineered EyeC ProofRunner inspection system to verify and inspect blister pack foils for its pharmaceutical customers.
Manufactured to GMP standards, the EyeC ProofRunner is a 100 per cent inspection system designed to meet stringent pharmaceutical print standards, and is capable of detecting defects as small as 150 microns at speeds in excess of 350m/min.
Installed on Colorpak’s finishing line, the system will detect variations in print, registration and colour, alerting the operator of potential defects and stopping the web at the precise location for the operator to action.
“The key difference between the ProofRunner and its competitors is the comparison to PDF,” says Scott Beadman, manager of Colorpak Flexibles.
“The system is so easy to use, it automatically detects repeat size and die lines from the PDF and immediately highlights any difference in the print. The teams at EyeC and GMS Pacific [agent for EyeC in Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia] have worked very closely with us to ensure they met all our needs,” says Beadman.
“It may seem simple, but this level of inspection requires a great deal of customisation – especially on foils,” says Amir Gergis, business development manager at GMS Pacific.
“Many systems claim to be able to find print defects, however, the reality is that they are much too sensitive for commercial production and see everything as defects – they are missing the point,” says Amir. “You need to be able to run at commercially acceptable speeds – otherwise there is no point.”
The ProofRunner uses sophisticated algorithms and takes into consideration dot gain, distortion, as well as other acceptable deviations inherent in flexo print and only focuses on critical defects.
EyeC specialises in print inspection systems with more than 650 installations and is the preferred supplier to many pharmaceutical companies throughout the world.
While GMS Pacific and EyeC have installed many of these system throughout the region, Colorpak is amongst the first in the world to use this technology to inspect blister pack foils.
Beadman says, “Both Colorpak and its customers will benefit from this sophisticated technology – eliminating defects and reducing waste, which is great for the environment.”
Colorpak offers the pharmaceutical industry a full packaging supply chain management service, branded Pharmakit, which allows the company to simplify the on-site packaging process for its pharmaceutical customers and manage their total packaging requirements for each product line, including consumer information leaflets, printed blister foils, self-adhesive labels, flexible packaging and cartons.
