Ace Assembly aids increased research by providing conveyor systems to The Automation Partnership
Ace Assembly aids increased research by providing conveyor systems to The Automation Partnership
Keywords Ace Assembly, Automation, Pharmaceutical industry, Platen systems, Storage systems,The Automation Partnership
Ace Assembly Systems Limited, the Coleshill, Birmingham based designers and builders of advanced platen systems (Plate 3), helped major machine and systems builders The Automation Partnership solve a problem by providing platen systems from their standard range to form part of their "Haystack" concept used in the world-wide pharmaceutical industry.
The standard Ace platen system was configured specially for the "Haystack" storage system used in the pharmaceutical industry for basic research.
For many clients, The Automation Partnership have deployed the "Haystack" system which operates as a sophisticated, computer controlled storage warehouse for chemicals and samples. Transport of the trays carrying the bottles or tubes being provided by the Ace platen system while the location of individual containers from the thousands in the system are identified by TAP's advanced software.
Plate 3 Ace Assembly platen system
The containers to be stored are placed into compartments on "Paternoster" type carousels which comprise a series of doorless compartments moving continuously in a vertically rotating manner. The indexing carousels and the platen system are configured to place or retrieve samples and chemicals as directed by the software which in turn responds to requests from the research scientists.
Systems are often in excess of 20 metres long and generally comprise three parallel lines with interchange facilities. Trays are presented to a series of Ace push-off module positions for independent access by the storage system robots. The push-off modules provide an accurate off-line position which allows retrieval of the tray contents by the robot without impeding the flow of subsequent platens on the main line. All systems also incorporate the Ace vertical buffer which allows vertical storage of a significant quantity of platens, thus providing balance to the line.
The system operates in a temperature controlled air conditioned environment, typically -2°C, to protect the drugs and samples from deterioration. The overall size of the system demands a room some 30m × 20m in total which houses the "Paternoster" lift units, the conveyor units, the operators station and the retrieval station.
Being fully automated the new system enables a much larger numbers of samples to be handled without chaos limiting the throughput, inevitable wherever human intervention occurs, and more product means more research.
The Automation Partnership have sold systems to ten of the world's 20 largest drug companies with amazingly successful results for the system seems now to have been adopted as the industry de facto standard. Indeed, Willie Harrison of The Automation Partnership has just returned from the first "Haystack" user group meeting in San Diego,California, where he was delighted with the way in which the system was warmly applauded by all without exception.
