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 Mettler-Toledo CT33 system gives operators a deep level of integration between marking and verifyiing, serialization, and precision weighing capabilities, helping them to achieve compliance, better brand protection, quality control, and supply chain traceability.
Brand Protection: Companies can use the CT33 to carry out serialization of individual cartons to improve supply chain transparency and help pharma and cosmetics manufacturers to protect their brands against the scourge of counterfeit products.
Serialized 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.
Flexibility: The CT33 is built around the modular Mettler-Toledo C-Series frame. This means that the customers can choose from many different configurations, including thermal transfer overprinting frame 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.
Improved Productivity: An entirely 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 that pass through the serialization 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.
Compact: While the exact footprint of the CT33 will be dependent on configuration, the system will measure up to around 5 feet (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. The maximum throughput is 300 pieces per minute, and the maximum conveyor speed is 60 meters per minute.
“We know that serialization and quality control are priorities for all companies in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics sectors,” said Marco Pelka, head of Market Management for Mettler-Toledo PCE. “For small and medium-sized manufacturers, it is vital that they can include productive yet cost-effective inspection solutions that deliver these benefits. That’s exactly what the Mettler-Toledo CT33 system is all about: traceability, quality control, and productivity integrated within a compact footprint that easily fits into production lines.”
