Syntegon Validates First AI-Equipped Visual Inspection System in Production Line

On Feb. 2, 2021, Syntegon Technology, a Germany-based process and packaging technology provider, announced the recent installation of the first fully validated visual inspection system that uses artificial intelligence (AI) in an automated inspection machine. The installation is a major step in the company’s sustained effort to introduce AI to pharmaceutical visual inspection, a largely uncharted territory in the industry, the company said in a company press release.

AI applications have the potential to further increase detection rates and decrease the number of false rejects in difficult products, such as highly viscous parenteral solutions with air bubbles, which are sometimes difficult to differentiate from harmful particles. AI utilizes deep learning algorithms capable of accurately identifying recurring patterns and deviations, Syntegon said in the press release.

As one of the most challenging stages in the pharmaceutical manufacturing process, inspection requires ever more sophisticated visual systems to process increasingly complex products. “Especially for high-cost pharmaceuticals, every single false reject is one too many,” said José Zanardi, responsible for vision inspection development and applications at Syntegon, in the press release.

“A growing number of [d]eep [l]earning vision applications are already on the market. Our task was to adapt those applications for pharmaceutical purposes, which essentially also includes validation,” Zanardi explained in the press release.

“We are proud to announce this important move, which is the joint result of long-standing visual inspection expertise, solid software and pharmaceutical validation competence, courage to cross boundaries, and an excellent partnership with our customer,” Zanardi added in the press release. “We are very happy that our new technology is able to contribute to higher safety and production efficiency of injectable drugs.”

Syntegon is set to implement AI in further inspection machines for different products and container types, contributing to the safe and reliable production of pharmaceutical products worldwide.

Source: Syntegon Technology