As part of a global production network, Takeda operates production facilities in Singen and Oranienburg in Germany. Over six billion tablets and capsules are produced in Oranienburg every year. This quantity of medicines has to be picked at the end of each production line and palletized ready for dispatch. That can be a tough job. So the discussion was not about whether to automate in order to reduce the workload of employees, but in principle only about where to start. A look at the sickness rate made the decision much easier. Cartons weighing up to ten kilograms have to be handled at the end of a line, for example. Over the course of a shift, this adds up to around five tons. Takeda project manager Robert Gundlach: "Initially, however, the collaborative robot was not yet an issue." At the end of the project discussions with Fanuc, the argument prevailed that a cobot would not only relieve the employees, but would also meet with much greater acceptance than a yellow robot behind a safety fence. Sebastian Steinbach, who is supervising the project on site from Fanuc, summarizes the basic idea: "The employees can get up close and personal with the collaborative robot. This has made the introduction of the new technology acceptable."

The direction was clear from the very first contact with Fanuc. "We already knew exactly what we wanted." Fanuc was not the only manufacturer that was contacted. But, according to Gundlach, no other manufacturer was in a position to offer Takeda a collaborative system in the required payload class and with the corresponding reach. Even before the first robot was installed, the company was already looking further ahead: the handling of containers or drums weighing more than 20 kg, which had previously been done manually, would become the focus of automation in the foreseeable future.

Because Takeda wanted a system integrator in the neighborhood, the choice fell on SKDK, a Berlin-based company that is at home in robot and PLC programming, has been programming Fanuc robot systems since 2012 and has now also entered the project business with smaller systems. Arnardo Schulze, Managing Director of SKDK: "Thanks to our positive experience, we want to continue to realize projects in plant engineering in combination with programming from a single source as a system integrator." The special feature of the Takeda system was that robots are not yet as popular in the pharmaceutical industry as they are in other sectors and that high standards have to be met in the cleaning of robot systems.

Robert Gundlach knows from numerous other projects how important employee acceptance is: "That's why we involve the employees in a new project as early and as intensively as possible." For example, there were several information events for the people in the packing department across all shifts, at which the technology and planned implementation were explained in detail. Gundlach: "That's when people realize that a robot is nothing more than a step stool, a work facilitator. We sold the robot as a new colleague, not as new technology."

The fact that the robot does not have to be "hidden" behind a fence was a big plus for the CR-15iA. Without a cage, there are obviously fewer reservations.

Where the CR-15iA works

The packing table at the end of a tablet production line consists of a double workstation: the glass vials filled with tablets are packed several at a time into cartons. These cartons are continuously pushed onto the packing table, picked up in packs of five by two employees and placed in a carton. Once the carton is full, it is placed on a flexible, slightly inclined roller conveyor. At the end of the conveyor, the CR-15iA first scans the label and then picks up the carton so that it can be stacked on the pallet with the label facing outwards. While the employees change shifts, the robot operates 24/7.

"The system has been running smoothly since mid-December," reports Gundlach. "The relative flexibility of the design lies in the roller conveyor." This is a scissor roller conveyor that has a range of adjustment options and can simply be pushed to the side if required. This makes it easy to create space for maintenance or service work on the robot. In this case, manual palletizing could continue as before. Gundlach: "We have moved forward with the chosen solution, but we haven't blocked our way back either." For an initial application, he sees this as a major advantage with a manageable risk.

The station with the green Fanuc robot is just one of a total of 14 picking lanes at Takeda. The good experience with Fanuc technology and system performance, including programming by SKDK, is to be transferred to other projects.

The work at the packing table could also be automated. In its current form, however, the robot is actually seen as a support. The idea of reducing the number of packing stations from two to one has also been abandoned in favor of the availability of the system: If the robot stops because, for example, a parcel has become jammed, work can still continue at the packing table while the second employee rectifies the fault.

Around 8,000 parcels have already passed through the system since its launch. "We haven't had a technical failure yet," says Gundlach, giving an initial interim assessment. He was actually "only" cautiously optimistic; he had expected a flatter start-up curve. He credits SKDK with a considerable part of this. If there was a hitch somewhere in the process or if employees had suggestions for improvement in detail, SKDK was always available and improved "small things" immediately. "There was and is nothing that has led to any instability."

The reliability of the Berlin system integrators' work is demonstrated by the example of updates, which could always be installed directly. This provides a certain level of security when adjustments are required. Gundlach is certain: "We have a partner who is stable."

The robot's task at Takeda is actually just to place the cartons correctly on the pallet, always eight cartons per layer and four layers high - and with the label facing outwards. With a reach of 1,441 mm and a maximum payload, the Fanuc robot performs this task effortlessly. The travel speed permitted for collaborative operation is completely sufficient for operation. The vacuum suction gripper comes from Schmalz and naturally also meets all the requirements for collaborative operation. A little gimmick: A small digital display shows how much vacuum is being used to hold the respective box. The gripper is also a standard product. Arnardo Schulze, Managing Director of SKDK, emphasizes that "in consultation with Takeda, we only used standard products without customizing." Only the design of the Teach Pendant's user interface was programmed with a customer-specific layout.

The idea behind this is to use the Teach Pendant not only as an operating and programming device for the robot, but also as a cell controller. Schulze: "We wanted to save on hardware and development costs. For us as software programmers, it is easier to use the display of the Fanuc iPendant for these tasks than to implement a display on another device." The user interface is simple and clear - with different access authorizations. In the simplest case, only the status of the cell and basic operations are displayed or specified. If, for example, a new pallet is provided, the robot is started at the touch of a button. Schulze explains the principle: "We haven't reinvented the wheel when it comes to the display, but have made the respective operation visually self-explanatory."

The standardization of the individual assemblies has an additional advantage. On the one hand, the collaborative cell can serve as a template for all other packing stations in the company. Secondly, according to Gundlach, other Takeda sites are now also looking into the use of robots. There is already a wish list of further robot projects.