Optimisation of the Primary De-bagging Step for Double-bag Products Within Aseptic Production Processes

This paper presents a comprehensive optimisation and evaluation of an automated de-bagging process for aseptic manufacturing, where a double-bagged product must be transferred from a non-sterile to a highly sterile environment. The current system experiences a high failure rate, with a success rate of only $$\varvec{30~\%}$$ in the initial de-bagging step, leading to significant product loss and production downtime. Through a series of empirical, mechanical, and push-out force-based optimisations, including improvements to the product guide rails, clamping mechanisms, and pusher bar operation the success rate of the de-bagging process was increased to $$\varvec{89~\%}$$ . Based on the results a set of generalised recommendations was formalised for the design of other de-baggers. Part of the suggested optimisation methods have since been integrated in a real de-bagger setup, which shows similar results to those achieved in the test setup.