Pharmaceutical logistics demands exceptionally high standards of precision, traceability and flexibility. In the pharmaceutical sector, the ability to quickly adapt production processes to different formats and batch sizes is key to maintaining competitiveness.
This is the challenge faced every day by Longlife Srl, an Italian company recognised as a leading name in the field of dietary supplements. With over forty years of experience and a product range that spans from sports nutrition to advanced formulations for pharmacies, Longlife has built its reputation on quality, safety and consistency.
The challenge
Within the field of pharmaceutical logistics and labelling for dietary supplements, Longlife needed to handle a wide range of container formats while ensuring consistent precision and full quality control.
Longlife’s production involves a broad variety of cylindrical plastic jars, from small diameters up to 200 ml containers with a height of 300 mm. Such a diversified range requires a flexible labelling system capable of guaranteeing accuracy, legibility and regulatory compliance for every product.
Before 1999, Longlife outsourced its primary packaging process. When the company decided to internalise production, it turned to automation to gain greater independence and quality control.
The solution
We developed customised labelling solutions for Longlife, a long-standing partner since 1999.. The key to the project? Flexibility.
Our labelling systems are designed to adapt to multiple formats with minimal adjustment, an essential advantage for a company like Longlife, which manages varied, small-batch production.
The systems’ ease of use, which requires no specialised technical operator, enables smooth product changeovers while maintaining consistent quality and application accuracy.
During each production cycle, the system also performs variable data printing (including batch number and expiry date) ensuring full traceability and compliance with pharmaceutical regulations.
To support both small and large-scale production runs, we integrated two complementary labelling systems, demonstrating how pharmaceutical automation can be tailored to specific operational needs.
This combination optimises workflow efficiency, ensuring that every jar receives its wraparound label with maximum precision and reliability.
The Compact WX was selected by Longlife to handle small-batch production, where flexibility and quick set-up times are essential.
A compact, versatile system designed for offline use, it allows operators to manually place containers on the machine, which then applies the label swiftly and accurately.
Its user-friendly operation enables format changes in just a few minutes, minimising downtime and improving packaging efficiency.
The Compact WX is therefore the perfect solution for fractional production, line testing, or small pharmaceutical and nutraceutical batches, where efficiency and quality control must go hand in hand.
Alongside the Compact WX, for continuous production lines, Longlife adopted the Modular WA: a fully integrated system combining automation and precision at every stage of the process.
Within the production flow, each jar is picked, capped, labelled and transferred to the operator for final packaging, ensuring a smooth, high-performance cycle.
While conventional pharmaceutical robotics often involve high investment and rigid processes, our approach with Longlife is based on pharmaceutical industrial automation that adapts to real production dynamics.
Beyond productivity, achieving a flawless aesthetic finish was a key goal: labels perfectly aligned, wrinkle-free and uniformly applied. A vital requirement for high-value nutraceutical products destined for pharmacy shelves.
The installed systems not only ensure the precise application of pre-printed plastic labels but also manage variable data printing, a crucial element for traceability and compliance with the industry’s most demanding standards.
The ability to switch formats quickly, without the need for a specialised technician, minimises downtime and maximises production efficiency, a decisive advantage for Longlife, serving multiple markets with a wide range of product formats.
Effective pharmaceutical logistics depends on the quality and reliability of labelling.
The Longlife project demonstrates how pharmaceutical and nutraceutical automation can deliver measurable improvements in productivity, precision and operational continuity.
Integrating the Compact WX and Modular WA systems has made production more flexible and scalable, enabling rapid format changes and in-line variable data printing for guaranteed traceability and compliance.
The collaboration with Longlife, based in Peschiera Borromeo (Milan) and active for more than twenty-five years, has evolved through continuous innovation, training and self-learning, empowering the Longlife team to manage their daily operations more autonomously and efficiently.
This project confirms that flexible pharmaceutical robotics and intelligent labelling management are now strategic drivers for optimising processes and strengthening competitiveness across the industry.
“With the automated solutions, we’ve doubled our production while gaining flexibility, speed and tangible savings. Labelpack’s constant technical support truly makes the difference.”
– Giuseppe Raimondi, Production Manager, Longlife
