Automated assembly: Automated production on behalf of medical technology

The efficient operation of complex assembly machines is becoming increasingly difficult.

says Matthias Müller, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of Contexo GmbH from Winterbach. This is likely to increase interest in contract manufacturing, also known as contract assembly.

Some customers are already securing the machine as an operating resource, but are outsourcing the operation of the machine. In other industries, this has been common practice for a long time, says Müller. „Only a few companies, for example, inject their plastic parts themselves. Although they buy the injection moulding tool, they outsource the actual injection moulding.

Automation: having growing quantities produced

With one such machine customer, who as an injection moulding company did not want to build up any further expertise in assembly, Contexo entered into contract manufacturing back in 2011. Every year, one or two machines were added for the same customer. "When I came on board as production manager in 2015, there were already eight machines in use," recalls Sven Muller, who is now managing director of Contexo's sister company Probotec GmbH in Winterbach, but is not related to the Contexo Mullers.

Probotec complements Contexo and, as a full-service provider, specialises in the assembly of plastic articles. Both companies work closely together. „Today we – now operate 32 systems in 24×7 mode in a new hall – with a small team and produce 1.3 billion parts per year – primarily for a customer who manufactures fastening elements for the automotive industry.“

Automated solutions for medical technology

Such automated solutions are also interesting for medical technology. Clients from this industry can benefit from several decades of experience in mechanical engineering and production, which Probotec can bring to a project together with Contexo. „This pays off particularly well in an industry such as medical technology, where quality is paramount“, says Sven Müller. Flexible and rapid adjustments to the market are possible at any time in consultation with the client.

Together with the client, Probotec also defines at the start of a project how many parts are needed per year, which assembly and testing processes are to be carried out and which cleanroom classes are required. The Probotec experts then draw up a concept for the machines, the cleanroom facilities and the necessary verifications and agree this with the client. Whether it will be a fully automated assembly system or semi-automated assembly, or whether you will start with manual assembly, cannot be estimated in advance based on figures alone," emphasises Muller.

Automation in primary packaging or diagnostics

The path to large quantities often leads through all stages of assembly. With us, you can have your products assembled manually in small quantities up to several million, for which we then use a fully automated system. Contexo has already developed and built corresponding systems for the life science sector, for example to produce primary packaging and diagnostics. „Probotec is also orientated towards this portfolio.“

Digital diagnostic plug prevents surprising failures

For the efficient operation of the machines, Probotec has built up a great deal of expertise through years of production experience. For example, the experts have developed a type of digital diagnostic connector for their own machines based on the OPC UA interface, which collects and visualises their data. This software is now also marketed externally with the partner Lead Digitalisierung GmbH. Probotec is digitising its current machinery and processes with this partner and also intends to implement future digitisation projects together.

„With the digitalisation of Lead, we have consolidated our processes, for example through proactive maintenance,

reports Sven Müller. "No machine breaks down unexpectedly for us any more. We have also gained a lot of expertise in setting and operating the machines efficiently.

The company is currently producing window components for a new customer. However, orders from other sectors can also be realised. Sven Müller says: „We are well prepared to enter the medical sector with our contract manufacturing.“

Combining flexible automated machines with robots

Probotec is open to all possible forms of cooperation: the client can buy the machines and leave only the operation to Probotec or the whole thing is billed solely on the basis of the parts produced. In this case, the machine remains the property of Probotec. „This is an advantage because we can continue to use a machine for other products if the order is cancelled. The customer may then have the machine standing around uselessly as soon as they no longer produce a certain product.

Sven Müller is also already planning to use flexible machines such as robot cells in order to be able to produce products for different customers on one machine. „This means that we can also map batch sizes from 100,000 to 500,000. These are orders of magnitude where even sophisticated automation does not yet pay off for the customer, but where manual production is a real pain because of the costs. And if we produce 800,000 to 1 million parts on one machine, it's worth it for us.

Article from "medizin & technik" from 23 January 2024