Mettler-Toledo Product Inspection has launched a new track & trace and checkweighing combination solution aimed at small and mid-market manufacturers in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries. The CT33 system gives operators a deep level of integration between mark & verify, serialisation and precision weighing capabilities, helping them to achieve compliance, better brand protection, quality control and supply chain traceability.
Companies can use the CT33 to carry out serialisation of individual cartons to improve supply chain transparency and help pharma and cosmetics manufacturers to protect their brands against the scourge of counterfeit products. Serialised cartons then pass into the checkweigher, where precision weighing with FlashCell EMFR technology enables completeness control checks, ensuring that all product components, including leaflets, are present.
The CT33 is built around the modular C-Series frame. This means that customers can choose from many different configurations including thermal transfer overprinting systems and smart cameras, depending upon the application the system is being designed for. The C-Series frame also allows easy access for cleaning. Operators need only a single HMI to interact with both the checkweighing and track & trace software. These have been integrated with each other to make the system easier to use, with alarms and audit trail messages consolidated in one place, and most settings accessed through the track & trace software. The hardware integration also benefits customers by giving them two different product inspection technologies within a single, compact machine.
A new feature in the CT33 is its transversal adjustment handling unit, which improves product changeovers. This unit takes cartons from upstream processing machines and can adjust to ensure they are positioned correctly on the conveyor belt for marking, verifying and then precision weighing. Additional productivity and ease of use result from the CT33’s ability to automatically decommission sorted products. This means that cartons which pass through the serialisation stage of the system but are then rejected by the checkweigher do not have to be manually scanned by the operator to register the serial number of the rejected product. Improved product tracking means this information is automatically collected.
While the exact footprint of the system will be dependent on configuration, it will measure up to around 5ft (approximately 1.5 meters) long. It can process cartons of up to 200mm in height, width and length (minimum 10mm (height), 45mm (width) and 25mm (length)), with a maximum weight of 600g. Maximum throughput is 300 pieces per minute, and maximum conveyor speed is 60 metres per minute.
