Glass vial labelling for pharmaceutical products

System 1 Pharma with a selective “Multifinger” rejection unit

A pharmaceutical company based in Greece, specialised in the production and distribution of injectable and infusion medicines, turned to Etipack to automate the labelling of cylindrical vials while ensuring compliance with European regulatory standards.

The challenge: handling 17 glass vial formats with integrated overprint verification and high-speed selective rejection

The customer needed to label cylindrical glass vials in 17 different formats, with varying diameters and heights, at speeds of up to 280 units per minute. In addition, two critical requirements had to be met:

Integration of variable data printing and OCV/OCR overprint verification on the labels within the same production line.

Ensuring selective rejection of non-conforming products without slowing down production flow.

The solution: customised System 1 Pharma with Extreme 100 labelling machine

Etipack developed a customised configuration of System 1 Pharma, the dedicated solution for cylindrical container labelling, equipped with the Extreme 100, the company’s flagship labelling head for high-speed, high-precision applications.

Key features of the solution:

Infeed system with rotary accumulation table featuring a stainless-steel platform and customised tray unloader.

Split-belt conveyor with dual motorisation, adjustable product guides and maximum load control.

Controlled vial pre-spacing through two counter-rotating motorised belts.

Wrap-around labelling using a Product Rotation Device (PRD) with quick format changeovers.

Integrated variable data printing and OCV/OCR verification on the dispensing unit, with a vision system inspecting the overprint on the labels before the application, and dual UV photocells for label presence verification.

“Multifinger” rejection system: a linear pneumatic diverter operating on a dedicated parallel conveyor belt that gently transfers non-conforming vials, ensuring selective rejection without breakage and without interrupting production flow.

The results: reliability and productivity even with fragile products

The system was validated on 17 cylindrical glass vial formats with 22 associated label specifications, demonstrating high flexibility and complete reliability in quality control and product rejection operations.

Speeds of up to 280 units per minute on the smallest vial formats.

Gentle and selective rejection without compromising container integrity.

Full traceability through integrated OCV/OCR verification, ensuring compliance with GMP requirements for pharmaceutical manufacturing.

The adoption of the “Multifinger” rejection unit enabled the required production speeds to be maintained without risk to product integrity, confirming Etipack’s position as a trusted technology partner for high-performance, custom-engineered solutions, even when handling fragile and non-standard products.