001558706 001__ 1558706
001558706 005__ 20240913013842.0
001558706 0247_ $$2doi$$a10.58090/usi.1558706
001558706 037__ $$aIR
001558706 041__ $$aeng
001558706 245__ $$aAstraZeneca blister line 10 process improvements
001558706 269__ $$a2019-11-18
001558706 520__ $$aThe purpose of this project was to improve the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (GEE)
Availability of blister line 10 through four continuous improvement projects: Tamper Evident
Machine Upgrades, Redundant Print Registration Sensor, Leak Testing Parameter Change, and
Centerline. These projects were assigned from AstraZeneca which is a global biopharmaceutical
company that develops and distributes medicine accountable for numerous diseases. The
AstraZeneca site located in Mt. Vernon, Indiana is the biggest in the Americas and primarily
manufactures Type 2 diabetes medicine. Capital intensive sectors such as the pharmaceutical
sector rely on high investments to achieve high profits, therefore it is important for AstraZeneca
to optimize production lines. In return, the company will achieve cost-savings, minimize wastes,
and guarantee a return on investments.
The Tamper Evident (TE) Machine Upgrades was to help improve with downtime issues by
upgrading parts of the machine that targeted carton jams, carton damage, debris buildup, and servomotor
faults. It is calculated to improve the availability of line 10 by 3%. The Redundant Print
Registration Sensor project targeted a defect in the blister cards specifically an excessive amount
of shift in the print, causing product information to be cutoff when leaving the thermoformer. The
new redundant sensor would automatically catch this excessive shift before it would be cutoff.
This resulted in a cost avoidance since it would eliminate the possibility of downtime due to redress
events, or when finished blister cards are pulled from the warehouse to be inspected of defects.
The leak testing parameter change project was to prove that the leak test time length can be reduced
from 10 minutes to 90 seconds without affecting the probability of detecting defects due to
pinholes or cracks. After performing tests under different pressures and time frames, the failure
rates of the weak sealed blister cards appeared similar and were also proven to be statistically
equivalent. This resulted in the implementation of the new leak testing time of 90 seconds and
would save approximately 432 hours of time for the operators per month. Centerline was
implemented as a lean initiative to help reduce changeover time by visualizing the critical
adjustments operators change in between product change.
001558706 7001_ $$aDenning, Raquel$$uUniversity of Southern Indiana
001558706 909CO $$ooai:library.usi.edu:1558706$$pGLOBAL_SET
001558706 950__ $$atmjewell@usi.edu
001558706 980__ $$aENGINEERING