The modular Clean Design not only makes HERMA labeling machinesmore flexible and more readily available, but the design upgrade also paves the way for significant performance improvements. Like the 132M HC, a wrap-around labeler specially designed for pharmaceutical products, which HERMA will be exhibiting at the Packaging Valley stand at Interpack (Pharma hall 16, stand D72-5).

For the first time, it achieves up to 600 cycles per minute, including variable data printing with camera control and GMP-compliant rejection of sub-standard products. In this case, the increase in performance is derived primarily from the possibility of integrating a significantly larger starwheel. "The Clean Design opens up new options for us to design functional modules differently without a significant increase in the size of the machine,” Product Manager Jana Paul explains.

Printer and camera panels are now also in a particularly favorable position from an ergonomic standpoint. Just as important for efficient operation is the new Human Machine Interface (HMI), which picks up on the clear and intuitive user control and symbol language that users already familiarwith the HERMA 500 applicator. The applicator and labeling machine are thus characterized by a uniform operation mode. "This ensures particularly rapid and secure access to all functions. Above all, the realistic machine visualization in the HMI also enables extremely reliable, targeted and unambiguous guidance of the operating personnel.

With regard to its use in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry, the 132M HC is designed so all products are initially defined as unconfirmed products unless the controls confirm otherwise. Therefore the reject conveyor is located in front of the product conveyor belt in accordance with GMP. This way, products that have not been confirmed cannot even get onto the outfeed conveyor. This is also ensured by the reject cross-check sensor integrated in the outfeed formatpart. Even in the extremely rare case of a sensor malfunction, the unconfirmed product remains controlled in the starwheel, which is then immediately stopped, and can be removed by the operator. The rejectionitself takes place via a pneumatic gate onto a belt for unconfirmed products. Optionally, a rejectstation can also be integrated below the rotating starwheel. Because the starwheel is now larger, even more control options can be integrated. This may be of interest, for example, for vials where the color or a data matrix code on the capneeds to be checked.

The servo-controlled starwheel is equipped with an overload function and can thus effectively prevent the breaking of vials that have become tilted. "In such cases, the starwheel in the new 132M HC stops automatically before the vial is damaged,” Jana Paul explains. The 132M HC is designed for products with a diameter of 14.75 millimeters to 110 millimeters, but despite its high output it comes with very few format parts, for example for the infeed and outfeed as well as for the starwheel. "This is an important aspect especially for contract packers who have to label many different formats," Jana Paul says. "Our few format parts fit on a single, clear and easily stowed plate. That's something special in our industry." Depending on the requirements, the wrap-around labeler is also available with a rotary table, EasySplicer or Autosplicer to ensure production is as uninterrupted as possible.