ABB Robots for Autoinjector and Pen Assembly

From hand work in a 1960 Dresden drug plant to Sharp's new autoinjector lines, and how ABB clean room robots, YuMi and FlexPicker suit injectable devices.

INDUSTRIAL ROBOTICS

Chat With Robot

9/25/20261 min read

In 1960, workers in the antibiotics department of the Arzneimittelwerk Dresden handled their product by hand, as this photo shows. Injectable medicines were drawn from vials into reusable glass syringes, which had to be sterilised between uses, and filling and packing were manual work too.

Black and white photo of a woman and a man in white coats handling glass tubes beside large bottles
Black and white photo of a woman and a man in white coats handling glass tubes beside large bottles

Workers in the antibiotics department of the Arzneimittelwerk Dresden, 1960. Photo: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-70628-0001 / Löwe via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE)

Today many patients inject themselves at home with pens and autoinjectors, like this pen for the diabetes drug Trulicity. Each device is a small assembly of a prefilled syringe, springs and plastic housings, and demand keeps rising with drugs such as the GLP-1 medicines.

White and grey injection pen labelled Trulicity 0.75 mg on a dark surface
White and grey injection pen labelled Trulicity 0.75 mg on a dark surface

A prefilled pen for the diabetes drug Trulicity. Photo: Raimond Spekking / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

On September 22, Sharp Services said it is adding autoinjector and pen assembly lines in Pennsylvania. A low-speed line in Macungie that assembles two devices a minute should start in early 2027, followed by a 50-a-minute line in 2028. Its sites in Belgium and the Netherlands are adding syringe assembly and blister packaging.

White and teal injection pen lying in front of its printed medicine box
White and teal injection pen lying in front of its printed medicine box

A Dupixent pen and its carton. Photo: Lyall0 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Small, clean robots suit this kind of work. ABB's IRB 1100 comes in a clean room version certified to ISO 4 under ISO 14644-1, with a sealed body and hygienic paint, and the IRB 1300 also has a Clean Room variant, like this one handling trays.

White ABB robot labelled Clean Room handling trays in an enclosed cell
White ABB robot labelled Clean Room handling trays in an enclosed cell

An ABB IRB 1300 Clean Room robot handling trays. Photo: ABB

For fiddly assembly next to people, ABB's dual-arm YuMi was designed to handle small parts. IRB 360 FlexPicker robots running PickMaster software pick and place items at high speed, which is the kind of work needed to pack devices into trays and blisters.

Two-armed ABB YuMi robot handling small parts on a bench beside a technician
Two-armed ABB YuMi robot handling small parts on a bench beside a technician

ABB's dual-arm YuMi, designed for small-part work next to people. Photo: ABB

I expect more injectable drugs to reach patients in ready-to-use devices, made on robot lines that can switch between drugs and pen designs quickly. At home, the next step might be a device that reminds you, checks the dose and records the injection, so less of the work falls on the patient.

Man at a laptop next to a glass-enclosed delta robot cell
Man at a laptop next to a glass-enclosed delta robot cell

An engineer sets up an ABB FlexPicker cell with PickMaster software. Photo: ABB

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