JPH11147501A - Improved method and apparatus for packaging medicine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the number of lines while improving the rate of operation at the lines by a method wherein fillings are made at filling equipment lines assigned respectively for filling of medicines such as tablets, sugarcoated tablets and the like and encasements are made to cases belonging to any of divisional areas for limiting sizes in specified numbers and the cases are conveyed to packaging lines. SOLUTION: Tablet filling lines wherein tablets are filled into bottles, sugarcoated tablet filling lines wherein sugarcoated tablets are filled into bottles, PTP-type blister packaging lines and the like are arranged in parallel with one another in a clean room. In the PTP-type blister packaging lines, for instance, filling equipment lines 3, 30 belonging to any of at least two divisional areas for limiting sizes are arranged side by side. In the filling equipment line 3, packing is made for 100-tablets packs and in the filling equipment line 30, packing is made for 300-tablets packs, and the 100-tablets packs are sent to an encasing line 5 for encasing into S-sized cases and the 300-tablets packs are sent to an encasing line 6 for encasing into L-sized cases respectively with conveying machines 72, 720 through lines 10-16, and encasement and packaging are made respectively. Therefore, the number of filling equipment lines and packaging equipment lines are decreased.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement in a packaging process for a multi-product, small-scale production of a pharmaceutical product in which the dosage form, container, and packaging form are diversified.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Many pharmaceutical products are produced in a variety of small quantities.
In recent years, the form of containers and packaging has also become very diversified. Against this background, there has conventionally been a packaging process consisting of a dedicated filling equipment line and a packaging equipment line for each drug.
More specifically, even if the medicines have the same trade name, for example, 100 tablets, 200 tablets, 300 tablets, etc., each has a dedicated packaging process. As is well known, the packaging process includes a filling equipment line for filling a medicine and a packaging equipment line for packing the filled medicine in a box. The filling equipment line has a series of equipment including auxiliary equipment such as an aeration machine, a filling machine, an inner stopper machine, a capper, and an automatic accumulator.
Powders, liquids, tablets, capsules and other pharmaceuticals are placed in containers such as bottles and blisters, and up to the filling equipment line that seals the containers, to prevent contamination of pharmaceuticals by microorganisms and other foreign substances, Work is being performed in a high room (hereinafter referred to as a clean room). In addition, the packaging equipment line has a series of equipment in which auxiliary equipment such as an automatic feeder, a boxing machine, a function registering machine, a lotting machine, a film wrapping machine, a dozen boxing machines, and a cardboard boxing machine are arranged. In the packaging equipment line of the packaging process, pharmaceuticals are packaged and sealed together with a letter of operation, a lot number is stamped, and if a film is wrapped, it is wrapped by a film wrapping machine.
Product. The boxes are collected in a dozen units by a dozen boxing machines, and those collected in a dozen units are packed in a cardboard box by a cardboard boxing machine to form a final shipment. FIG. 3 shows an example of the conventional embodiment.

FIG. 3 shows a filling line for a tablet bottle (hereinafter referred to as A line), a sugar-coated tablet bottle filling line (hereinafter referred to as B line), and a capsule PTP.
Blister packaging and filling line (hereinafter referred to as C line) and pillow packaging and filling line (hereinafter referred to as D line) and tablet bottle boxing line (hereinafter referred to as a line) which is a dedicated line directly connected to these. It is an explanatory view showing a sugar-coated tablet bottle boxing line (hereinafter, referred to as a b line), a capsule PTP blister packaging boxing line (hereinafter, referred to as a c line), and a pillow packaging box packing line (hereinafter, referred to as a d line). Although not shown in this figure, as described above, each filling equipment line is for each type of medicine, for example, stomach medicine, cold medicine, etc., or how many tablets of the same type, for example, 100 tablets, 200 tablets, 3
It had a dedicated line that also differs depending on whether it contains 00 locks or the like. Note that the filling equipment line is installed in the clean room 7. On the other hand, the packaging equipment line is installed outside the clean room. Here, the tablet bottle and the sugar-coated tablet bottle are bottles made of glass or polymer, for example, polyethylene, polypropylene or the like, and the tablets are packed in these. Capsule PTP blister packaging and filling refers to a unit-type packaging format in which a capsule is placed on an aluminum sheet, a polymer sheet or aluminum paper is covered from above, and the capsule is heat-pressed and sealed around the capsule. Pillow packaging and filling refers to a packaging format in which a polymer sheet or aluminum paper is heat-pressed in three directions to form a bag and then a medicine is put in, and the fourth direction is heat-pressed and sealed in the fourth direction.

Since the amount of consumption differs for each user depending on the size of a pharmacy, hospital, or the like, boxes having different numbers of tablets are required. As an example, the same PTP blister packaging and filling will be described.
A plurality of the blister sheets are stacked on a basis of 0 tablets,
The tablets were bundled and wound in a device having a banding function of banding with cellophane or the like, and 50 or 100 tablets were wound, and then these were bundled to form 1000 tablets, 3000 tablets, 5000 tablets, or the like. These were transported to a packaging facility line installed outside the clean room, and placed in boxes of different sizes depending on the number of tablets to be packed. According to the type of the number of tablets packed as described above, sort by the type of the number of tablets manually, or as a dedicated line as described above,
A line of boxing and packaging equipment was prepared for each type of tablets.

[0005] In the step of filling the above-mentioned medicines into containers, bottles and the like in the filling equipment line, for example, 100 tablets, 200 tablets,
It is customary to carry out an operation having a capacity different from that of a lock, 300 tablets, or the like. Therefore, when packing containers, bottles, etc., each having a different size, it is necessary to put them into boxes of different sizes in the boxing process in the packaging equipment line. It is necessary to provide a dedicated line for each size of a bottle or the like, or to stop the entire line and perform an adjustment operation for changing the size.

As described above, when the filling equipment line and the packaging equipment line are directly connected, the whole line is stopped and the parts of the filling / packaging machine and their auxiliary equipment are replaced when the packaging specification is changed. This has to be done, and when changing the type of parts or changing the specifications of the packaging material, the line must be stopped, so the operation of the filling and packaging equipment line has necessarily declined. In the case of manual operation,
In addition to the downtime of each line, a lot of labor was required, and there were other problems caused by so-called human error.

Further, if the filling equipment line installed in the clean room and the packing equipment line installed outside the clean room are directly connected and fixed as a dedicated line, a number of packing equipment lines and the same number of packing equipment lines are required. Was. In view of the above background, the number of filling equipment lines and the number of packaging equipment lines have been reduced, and further, a means for increasing the operation rate of these equipment has been awaited.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a means for reducing the number of filling equipment lines and the number of packaging equipment lines, and for increasing the operation rate of these equipment.

[0009]

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances. The present inventors, in the packaging process, the device for boxing the packaged medicine transported from the filling equipment line to the packaging equipment line, the shape of the box,
Pay close attention to the fact that it has a function that can perform box packing work only depending on the size, and that there is a tendency to standardize the box size regardless of the type of drug for each drug manufacturer, etc. As a result, the present invention has been achieved.

[0010] An object of the present invention is to provide a filling equipment line installed in a clean room and a packaging equipment line installed outside the clean room, which are conventionally fixed, and a transfer means having a storage function between them. This is achieved by connecting and transporting the medicines filled in the filling equipment line to any one of the packaging equipment lines corresponding to the size of the box and packing them.

That is, the present invention relates to (1) a process comprising a filling equipment line installed in an independent clean room, an independent packaging equipment line installed outside the clean room, and a transporting machine connecting these lines. Pharmaceuticals are filled in a filling equipment line installed in, and the filled pharmaceuticals are sent to a packaging equipment line, and in the packaging equipment line, the medicines are packed in a box with a functional book, a lot number is stamped, sealed and packaged, Filling equipment line for packing tablets and filling bottles with filling equipment line, filling machine for filling sugar-coated tablets into bottles and sealing the bottles when shipping boxes containing packed medicines and functional documents as the minimum unit product Filling the equipment line and filling the capsule into a PTP blister and overlapping and banding the blister sheet And Bei line, pharmaceuticals which are filled from the filling equipment line and filling equipment line for granules and powder filled pillow packaging filled with wrapper is run to each independently coexist stored in conveyor having a conveying function,
On the other hand, the packaging equipment line installed outside the clean room has a box packing function of packing in a box belonging to any one of the size ranges in which the size range of at least 2 is limited. Conveyed from the filling equipment line to the intended packaging equipment line, is an improved drug packaging method characterized in that the drug is packed,
(2) In a facility consisting of a filling equipment line installed in an independent clean room, an independent packaging equipment line installed outside the clean room, and a transporter connecting them, pharmaceuticals are supplied in a filling equipment line installed in the clean room. Filled, the filled medicine is sent to the packaging equipment line, and the medicine is packed in the packaging equipment line together with the package book, numbered, sealed and packaged, and the packaged medicine and package book are filled When shipping a box as a minimum unit product, the filling equipment line fills tablets with bottles and seals them, the filling equipment line fills sugar-coated tablets into bottles and seals the bottles, and fills capsules into PTP blisters Filling equipment line for overlapping and banding the blister sheets, and filling granules and powder The pillow-packing filling and banding filling equipment lines coexist, and each is operated independently. The filled pharmaceuticals from the filling equipment line are stored in a transporter having a transport function, while the packaging equipment is installed outside the clean room. The line has a boxing function of packing in a box belonging to any one of the size ranges in which the size range of at least 2 is limited, and the carrier machine is used to carry out the packing operation from the filling equipment line. This is an improved medicine packaging equipment, which is transported to a line and packed with medicines.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION In the present invention, a packaging facility
A facility consisting of a filling equipment line installed in an independent clean room, an independent packaging equipment line installed outside the clean room, and a transporter connecting these. The present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to this. The filling equipment line of the present invention is a clean room 7
And is composed of at least four lines: a tablet bottle filling line 1, a sugar-coated tablet bottle filling line 2, a PTP blister packaging filling line 3, and a pillow packaging filling line 4. Although not shown in this figure, each of the above-mentioned filling lines has a plurality of filling lines of the same type which are present in parallel, and the plurality of filling lines can operate independently. Although not limited to this, for example, although details will be described later, as shown in Example 1 performed according to FIG. 2 described below, the PTP blister packaging filling line 3 and the PTP blister packaging The filling lines 30 coexist and operate independently. The packaging equipment line is separated from each filling equipment line, and the medicines filled in the filling equipment line are transported by the transporter 70 and the transporter 7 having a storage function.
1. Stored in the transporter 72 and the transporter 73, and transported to the intended packaging equipment line, S-size boxing line 5, or L-size boxing line 6. In this figure,
Although it is described that each filling line is provided with one transporter having a storage function, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to this. In addition, the transfer machine can be implemented automatically or manually, but is preferably automatic.

Hereinafter, each of the filling equipment lines 1 to 4 will be described. First, the tablet bottle filling line 1 will be described. In this line, even if the size of the bottle is different, the operation of filling a predetermined amount of tablets into the bottle is not changed. The size of the bottle is determined in advance according to the number of tablets. Furthermore, a production plan is made in advance as to how long products of the same size will be produced. Therefore, for example, parts for each size such as S size and L size can be prepared in the line and can be switched and used automatically or manually.

Second, the sugar-coated tablet bottle filling line 2 will be described. The line is the same as the line 1 except that the tablets in the line 1 are changed to sugar-coated tablets.

Third, the PTP blister packaging and filling line 3 will be described. The PTP blister packaging and filling line 3 may be filled and banded by a conventional filling method. Here, the size of the bundle to be banded, that is, the number of tablets to be bundled is determined based on the production plan.

Finally, the pillow packaging and filling line 4 will be described. The pillow packaging and filling line 4 may be filled and banded by a conventional filling method. Here, the size of the bundle to be banded, that is, the number of tablets to be bundled is determined based on the production plan.

The packaging equipment line will be described below.
In FIG. 1, the packaging equipment line includes an S size boxing line 5 and an L size boxing line 6.
Usually, the packaging equipment line has a series of equipments in which auxiliary equipment such as an automatic feeder, a boxing machine, a function boxing machine, a lotting machine, a film wrapping machine, a dozen boxing machines, and a cardboard boxing machine are arranged. Film wrap machines are used only when film wrap is required. In addition, printed boxes of different types of medicines can be separately prepared. In the present invention, the size of the box is classified at least into S size and L size. Here, the S size
For example, length, 50 mm to 150 mm, width, 25 mm
~ 70mm, refers to a box with a height of 12mm ~ 70mm, L-size box is a length, 125mm ~ 290mm, width,
It refers to a box having a size of 50 mm to 250 mm and a height of 15 mm to 85 mm. This shape may vary slightly from one pharmaceutical manufacturer to another, but it is generally within this range. The classification such as the S size and the L size can be arbitrarily determined according to the range in which a commercially available box packing machine (hereinafter, referred to as a cartoning machine) can handle. The automatic feeder has a function of supplying a drug before packing, and the automatic feeder is operated in conjunction with the boxing machine. A commercially available cartoning machine includes a continuous cartoning machine corresponding to the above-mentioned S-size box or L-size box. Although not limited thereto, one example is a continuous cartoning machine manufactured by OM Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

In the present invention, the conveyors 70 to 73 of the conveyor having a storage function may be a commercially available automatic conveyor, a belt conveyor, a tray conveyor, or a flexible pipe automatic connection disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2101080. The above-described conveyor may be combined with an XY router function in which the apparatus and its management system are improved. The storage function may be provided with a storage / accumulation / acceptance function at each outlet of the filling equipment line. In addition, storage at the entrance of the S size boxing line 5 and the L size boxing line 6
A device having a storage / accepting function may be installed.

[0019]

Although the present invention has been described above, the present invention will be described in further detail with reference to embodiments. It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited only to the embodiments described below.

Example 1 FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of a process of extracting a PTP blister packaging filling line and a packaging equipment line as an example from FIG. 1 showing one embodiment of the present invention, and the process was carried out in accordance with the drawing. Hereinafter, the S-size boxing line 5 and the L-size boxing line 6 were implemented using a continuous cartoning machine manufactured by OM Corporation. The production plan is
100 tablets and 3 in PTP blister filling equipment line 3 and PTP blister filling equipment line 30
A cold medicine containing 00 tablets and a stomach medicine containing 100 tablets and 300 tablets are produced together.
These were boxed and packed in the size boxing line 6. In the filling equipment line 3, 100 pills for cold medicine containing 100 tablets were made. At the same time, in the filling equipment line 30, 100 pills for gastric medicine containing 300 tablets were made.
I made it individually. In addition, at the exit of each filling equipment line, a commercially available automatic transfer device having a storage function is provided,
The bandage for the cold medicine was stored in the automatic conveyance device 72, and the bandage for the stomach medicine was stored in the automatic conveyance device 720, respectively. The banding of the cold medicine passes through the lines 10, 11 and 12 to the S-size boxing line 5 by the automatic conveyance device 72, and the banding of the gastric medicine is carried out on the lines 13 and 14.
And L by the automatic transfer device 720 through the line 15
They were transported to the size boxing line 6 and packed and packaged respectively. Since 100 boxes of cold medicine containing 100 tablets were completed in the S-size boxing line 5, it was confirmed that no product remained in the filling equipment line 3, the transporter 72, and the S-size boxing line 5 according to the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law.
On the other hand, in the L-size boxing line 6, 100 boxes of stomach medicine containing 300 tablets were completed. Filling equipment line 3
0, it was confirmed that no product remained in the transporter 720 and the L-size boxing line 6. The automatic transfer device 72 was sent to the outlet of the filling equipment line 30, and the automatic transfer device 720 was sent to the outlet of the filling equipment line 3.
It goes without saying that these automatic transfer devices may pass through transfer lines not shown in this figure. Next, 300 tablets of cold medicine are filled and banded in the filling equipment line 3, and the L-size box packing line 6 is filled.
Then, 300 tablets of the cold medicine are made into 100 boxes, and a stomach containing 100 tablets is filled and banded in the S-size boxing line 5, and one stomach containing 100 tablets is placed in the S-size boxing line 5.
An instruction to make a 00 box was issued, and the same procedure was performed. As described above, what used to require four dedicated lines consisting of a filling equipment line and a packing equipment line has been reduced to two filling equipment lines and two packing equipment lines.

Example 2 Example 2 was carried out in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the filling method in Example 1 was changed from filling in PTP blisters to filling in pillows. The results were the same as in Example 1.

Example 3 Example 3 was carried out in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the filling method of Example 1 was changed from filling of PTP blister packaging to filling of sugar-coated tablet bottles. The results were the same as in Example 1.

Example 4 The procedure of Example 1 was repeated, except that the PTP blister packaging and filling of Example 1 was replaced with the tablet bottle packaging and filling. The results were the same as in Example 1.

[0024]

According to the improved pharmaceutical packaging method and packaging equipment of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. (1) Since the filling equipment line installed in the clean room, which is the packaging process, and the packaging equipment line installed outside the clean room are separated, these lines can be used independently. Since the filling equipment line and the packaging equipment line can be used independently, the number of equipment lines in the conventional packaging process can be reduced. (2) Since the number of filling equipment lines can be reduced, the clean room can be small. (3) Energy can be saved because the clean room can be made smaller. (4) Conventionally, in the packaging process, the filling equipment line and the packaging equipment line are directly connected for exclusive use, and therefore, the packaging equipment line is always operated discontinuously, and it is not expected to improve the operation rate of the packaging process. Was. In the present invention, the filling equipment line and the packaging equipment line can be used independently,
If a production plan is prepared by appropriately combining the filling equipment line and the packaging equipment line, the packaging process can be operated 100% except for the confirmation time determined by the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of a process of extracting a PTP blister package as a filling form as an example from FIG. 1 showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an embodiment of the related art.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Tablet Bottle Filling Line 2 Sugar-Coated Tablet Bottle Filling Line 3 PTP Blister Packing Filling Line 4 Pillow Packing Filling Line 5 S Size Boxing Line 6 L Size Boxing Line 7 Clean Room 70-73,720 Carrier 10-16 Lines A-F Filling Equipment Line (prior art) a to f Packaging equipment line (prior art)

Claims (2)

[Claims] In a process comprising a filling equipment line installed in an independent clean room, an independent packaging equipment line installed outside the clean room, and a transporter connecting these, a filling equipment line installed in the clean room is used. The medicine is filled, the filled medicine is sent to a packaging equipment line, and the medicine is packed in a box with a letter in the packaging equipment line, a lot number is stamped, sealed and packaged, and the packed medicine and the letter When shipping the box containing the product as a minimum unit product, the filling equipment line fills the bottle with a tablet and seals it, the filling equipment line fills the sugar-coated tablet into the bottle and seals the bottle, and the PTP blister fills the capsule. And a filling equipment line for filling and filling the blister sheet to overlap and band Filling, pillow packaging, filling, and banding are simultaneously performed from the filling equipment line, which is operated independently of each other, and the filled pharmaceuticals are stored in a transfer machine having a transfer function, and installed outside the clean room. The packaging equipment line has a boxing function of packing in a box belonging to any one of the size ranges in which the size range of at least 2 is limited. An improved method for packaging pharmaceuticals, wherein the pharmaceuticals are transported to a packaging facility line, and the pharmaceuticals are packaged. 2. A facility comprising a filling equipment line installed in an independent clean room, an independent packaging equipment line installed outside the clean room, and a transporting machine connecting them, and a filling equipment line installed in the clean room. The medicine is filled, the filled medicine is sent to a packaging equipment line, and the medicine is packed in a box with a letter in the packaging equipment line, a lot number is stamped, sealed and packaged, and the packed medicine and the letter When shipping the box containing the product as a minimum unit product, the filling equipment line fills the bottle with a tablet and seals it, the filling equipment line fills the sugar-coated tablet into the bottle and seals the bottle, and the PTP blister fills the capsule. And a filling equipment line for filling and filling the blister sheet to overlap and band Filling, pillow packaging, filling, and banding are performed in parallel with the filling equipment line, which is operated independently from each other. From the filling equipment line, the filled pharmaceuticals are stored in a transfer machine with a transfer function, and installed outside the clean room. The packaging equipment line has a boxing function of packing in a box belonging to any one of the size ranges in which the size range of at least 2 is limited. An improved pharmaceutical packaging facility, characterized in that the pharmaceutical is conveyed to a packaging facility line for packaging the pharmaceutical.