Bobst automates pharma pack production for Shanxi Ruixing

Bobst has supplied Shanxi Ruixing Printing and Packaging, a Chinese company specializing in pharmaceutical packaging, with its SP 106 Evo ER die-cutter. 

The technology, which is said to be specifically optimized for the Chinese market, aims to eliminate labor-intensive manual waste stripping and improve production capacity and quality for pharmaceutical packaging.

Tongjie Han, general manager at Shanxi Ruixing Printing and Packaging, says: “This was a strategic investment aligned with the company’s production goals.”

“Before the equipment was introduced, the company’s operations faced three major bottlenecks. The first was the difficulty associated with manual waste stripping. Secondary manual cleaning was not only inefficient but also produced highly inconsistent results, making it difficult to keep waste rates within the desired range.”

“Second, as the market increasingly shifts toward smaller orders and more frequent production runs, the job changeovers and machine adjustments took too long when using traditional equipment.”

Han highlights that the most challenging issue was the persistently high cost of labor. “Waste stripping and blank separation are highly labor-intensive tasks, while recruiting skilled workers has become increasingly difficult. This significantly constrained the company’s ability to fully utilize its production capacity and advance standardized operations.”

Lower labor requirement

Shanxi Ruixing Printing and Packaging shares that with the Bobst SP 106 Evo ER, the production line can operate steadily at speeds of 7,000–8,000 sheets per hour.

The machine can also improve registration accuracy and creasing flatness by more than 20% compared with the company’s previous equipment, according to the companies.

The Bobst SP 106 Evo ER is engineered to deliver strong stability when processing complex carton formats, including small pharmaceutical boxes.

The human-machine interface features guided setup and is intuitive and easy to understand, according to Bobst. The solution enables new Chinese operators to become proficient after a short training period. The companies add that its intelligent design requires minimal intervention and manual adjustment, reducing the risk of human error.

Bobst is strengthening its global presence. Recently, the company joined Brückner and Mitsui Chemicals to unveil “the world’s first“ monomaterial, recyclable retort solution, featuring high barrier properties based on opaque metallization.

Last month, Colorman Ireland became the first company in Europe to adopt the fully automated ExpertFold 80 line configuration for carton folding by Bobst.