Automated Weighing System for Drug-Eluting Stents (DES)

HAHN Automation Group Improves Quality and Efficiency

A leading medical manufacturer once required 20 full-time operators for a single application. We designed a solution that allowed their workforce to focus on other applications by automating the weighing of drug coating on their drug-eluting stents.

#RFID #MedTech #Stent #DrugDelivery #Traceability

 

  • Increased traceability with RFID capability
  • Manual to fully-automated system design
  • Increased efficiency by 87.5%

 

Challenge

Like many manufacturers, they coat their stents with a drug, creating what are known as drugeluting stents (DES), to address a critical problem in cardiovascular interventions: restenosis. Prior to our solution, they were using 10 lines to produce this stent. Each line required 2 operators—meaning the team needed was 20 full-time operators. The customer wanted to reduce the number of operators needed in order to reassign those operators to other tasks that require manual interaction. 

Additionally, the tolerance for error in the coating process is extremely small because the amount of drug applied to the stent is critical both for its effectiveness and EMA/FDA requirements/regulations.

 

Developing a Solution

Before automation, the customer was manually loading the stents onto a scale, recording the pre-coating weight, and then inserting individual stents into equipment for the drug coating process. The stents would then be unloaded and re-weighed on the outfeed to track how much medicine was applied. 

This manual operation required a full-time operator on both the infeed and outfeed of each of the 10 manufacturing lines, for a total of 20 operators. The manual tracking and weighing process was also complex due to curing time within the equipment, making it difficult to ensure the correct stent was being recorded. 

Our solution included automating the infeed and outfeed of the stent manufacturing process to increase efficiency and traceability. We also used pre-loaded trays of RFID-enabled mandrels and unprocessed stents to automate the loading and tracking process.

 

Process Overview

  1. RFID Technology
    The system logs weight data associated with each tag to improve accuracy and tracking throughout the process.
  2. Robotic Material Handling
    Reduced operator handling helps prevent damage and human error.
  3. Vision Systems
    A series of vision inspections help ensure the delicate material of the stent is not bent or damaged.
  4. In-line Integration
    By integrating with existing equipment, the system allows operators to perform other tasks for 2-3 hours between batches.
  5. Reduced Workforce
    The customer reduced the number of operators from 20 down to 2-3 people to service all 10 manufacturing lines.

Cycle time: 41 seconds per part

Results

Overall, the automated solution helped the customer increase productivity, reduce labor costs, improve traceability and accuracy, and continue meeting strict quality standards—all while improving efficiency by nearly 90% throughout the process.

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