ACG wins iF Design Award 2021 for Karton X

After months of research and customer consultations with pharma partners around the world, ACG’s global design team, in collaboration with Design Ship in Germany, developed various design concepts for the new equipment. The winning idea, modelled on Stealth technology, provides unparalleled UX, intuitive HMI, smooth accessibility, and smart connectivity. It also looks fantastic, externalising and exemplifying the quality of the engineering underpinning it.

ACG is currently celebrating its 60th anniversary, and now provides all requirements of oral solid dosage manufacturing to pharma and nutra companies in 138 countries. Not satisfied to stop there, however, ACG aspires to keep challenging more established players at the very top of the pharma supply pyramid, and this award is an important milestone in being recognised on the global stage.

Karton X, part of ACG's new-generation pharmaceutical packaging series, is a high-speed cartoner with an output of 300 items per minute. It is used to pack blisters, bottles, tubes, vials, or ampoules in secondary packaging. A precise and clear geometric shape characterises its design, with better ergonomics and flat surfaces making cleaning easier. The stealth shape, resembling fighter-bomber aircraft, encloses the machine and highlights the technical components inside through large transparent front doors. This ensures better accessibility for maintenance and changeover. The HMI, with an intelligent graphic user interface, can be moved horizontally across the machine’s length, providing better user operations. The machine has also been produced using recyclable materials such as steel, aluminum and corian, making it sustainable.

Karan Singh, managing director of ACG, said, “We want to make the world a better place. This has been at the heart of everything we do. We understand that during times like these, our partners in the global pharma industry need reliable, safe, and intelligent devices to help them make the world healthy again. We stand alongside them to serve this cause, and this award is testimony to an approach of solving problems through collaboration and taking an integrated approach to technological development. I am incredibly proud of my team."