Curent Pulse

Hitting the Mark for Drug Delivery
Collaboration between ATM Automation and a U.K. medical device manufacturer has led to the development of a fully automated solution for high accuracy, high clarity circumferential printing on a range of drug delivery components. With the range of polymers and different printing techniques available, it is essential that the correct combination of materials, pre-treatment, and printing processes are selected to achieve the marking quality and durability required for different applications. Following a review of specific requirements, ATM engineers chose a combination of HF corona treatment and pad printing. For these particular components, precise radial orientation also was required, which was achieved using a closed loop system comprised of a laser sensor and servo-positioning system – enabling print registration tolerances of better than 0.4° radially and 0.3mm longitudinally. Following printing, each part is subsequently checked using a machine vision system to verify both correct print and print quality, with any rejected parts being segregated. www.atmautomation.com

Cutting Organizational Multitasking Boosts Productivity
Realization officials have released a report, “The Effects of Multitasking on Organizations,” which reveals that organizational multitasking, a problem that typically goes unnoticed within large companies, annually costs the global economy more than $450 billion in lost productivity.

The new report from Realization examines a problem that previous researchers have paid little attention to: the effects of multitasking at the organizational level. Just as individual multitasking occurs when a person’s time is split between too many tasks, organizational multitasking occurs when a group is focused on too many things and its overall capacity is adversely affected.

Studied were 45 organizations from a diverse range of industries with between 1,000 and 50,000 employees and average annual revenue of more than $1 billion. The study found that eliminating organizational multitasking increased company productivity by an average of 59.8%, and a median increase of 38.2%. The mean cycle-time reduction was 35.5%, while the median cycle-time reduction was 31%. http://bit.ly/14nO4YZ

Operating Rooms with a Point-of-View
An Ohio surgeon has become the first in the United States to use Google Glass during an operation to consult with colleagues miles away.

Dr. Christopher Kaeding, a surgeon at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio, performed ACL surgery while wearing the Google Glass. During the procedure Kaeding used the head-mounted computer and camera device to transmit point-of-view video to the Internet, while an audience of students and doctors across campus watched on their laptops.

Google Glass has a frame similar to traditional glasses, but instead of lenses, a small glass block sits above the right eye. On that glass is a voice-operated computer screen that allows users to pull up information as they would on any other computer. Attached to the front of the device is a camera that takes both point-of-view photos and videos while the device is worn.

Only a thousand people in the United States have been chosen to test Google Glass. http://bit.ly/1a43qpT