Leading pharmaceutical company A. Nattermann & Cie claims to have “effectively put a stop to counterfeiting” in the pharma industry, with a new label verification process involving a vision system and barcode reader from Cognex.
Germany-based A. Nattermann, a subsidiary of the global Sanofi Aventis Group, has combined a Mark & Vision system from Krempien+Petersen Qualitäts-Kontrollsysteme with a Cognex In-Sight 5613 vision system and DataMan 200 barcode reader to subject Data Matrix codes and printed text labels to thorough inspection.
The new labelling system verifies and checks the identification imprints applied to the side flaps of the product packaging.
Developed specifically for the efficient reading of even the most complex Data Matrix and linear barcodes, the Cognex DataMan 200 verifies that the label is applied in the first step.
As the world’s first scanner with autofocus, its liquid lens ensures fast and highly accurate focus settings without any mechanical parts.
And to ensure optimal lighting conditions, the DataMan 200 has integrated illumination with laser alignment.
The Cognex In-Sight 5613 performs quality testing at the next station. This high-speed system with ID reader has a resolution of 1600x1200 and checks the product-specific Data Matrix code and its associated variable OCR (optical character recognition) data.
With its extensive library of proven vision tools, it also simplifies the implementation into existing systems, accelerates deployment, and eases product changeover.
Krempien+Petersen CEO Stefan Klöpping said: “A significant contribution to the success has been because of internationally standardized and proven components, such as the DataMan 200 and the In-Sight 5613 vision system from Cognex.
“Only 40 pieces out of 250,000 during the two-shift operation are scrapped each day, a successful number for any operation.”
The labelling system places high demands on all components used. The required 200-250 packages per minute were exceeded by almost 100 per cent.
A. Nattermann manager of engineering packaging, Friedhelm Hermanni, said: “When serialization is required in the pharmaceutical industry, we are ideally prepared. With more than four decades of experience and strong partners at our side, we can accept any new challenge.”
Headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts, USA, Cognex has regional offices and distributors located throughout North America, Japan, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Cognex claims to be the world leader in the machine vision industry, having shipped more than 500,000 machine vision systems, representing over $2.5 billion in cumulative revenue, since the company's founding in 1981.
