ADVANCED FOIL UNWINDING MECHANISM

COMPANY PROFILE

HLL Lifecare Limited (HLL) commenced its journey to serve the Nation in the area
of healthcare, on 1st March 1966, with its incorporation as a corporate entity under the
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Government of India. HLL was set up in the
natural rubber rich state of Kerala, for the production of male contraceptive sheaths for the
National Family Planning Programme. The company commenced its commercial operations
on April 5, 1969 at Peroorkada in Thiruvananthapuram. The plant was established in
technical collaboration with M/s Okomoto Industries Inc. Japan. Two most modern plants
were added, one at Thiruvananthapuram and the other at Belgaum in 1985.
The production facility at Peroorkada has emerged as one of the largest single
manufacturing plant in the world for the production of Condoms, with a capacity to produce
over 1 Billion Condoms a year. With the addition of this capacity, HLL today has an annual
production capacity of 1.316 billion condoms.
The manufacturing unit at Peroorkada was set up by HLL in 1969 with the technical
collaboration using Japanese technology. The plant is equipped with modern production,
inspection and quality control machines and equipments in international quality norms.
Condoms manufactured by this facility have CE mark and can meet a range of international
quality norms by WHO 2003 , ISO 4074:2002 ,SANS ISO 4074 , ASTM D 3492 , GOST4045-81 etc

INTRODUCTION

The manufacturing unit at Peroorkada was set up by HLL in 1969 with the technical
collaboration using Japanese technology. The plant which has an annual production of 1066
million pieces condoms undergone continuous modernization over the years. The facility is
equipped with modern production, inspection and quality control machines and equipments in
international quality norms. HLL is today a multi-product, multi-unit organization addressing
various public health challenges facing humanity. The production facility at Peroorkada has
emerged as one of the largest single manufacturing plants in the world for the production of
Condoms, with a capacity to produce over 1 Billion Condoms a year.
Following departments are functioning in PFT
i)

Production Planning and Control (PPC) Department and Material Procurement and
Control (MPC) Department

ii)

Primary Production Department

iii)

Quality Assurance Department

iv)

Electronic Testing Department

v)

Packing Department

vi)

Material Testing Lab

vii) Purchase Department

viii) Engineering Department
ix)

Human Resource Department

x)

Accounts Department

xi)

Stores and Sales

xii) Safety Department

xiii) System Department

Packing section is one of the last step of Production Department of PFT. Naked
condoms from QA are received batch wise and deferred batch coding will be then generated
in the packing stage corresponding to QA batch. Silicon oil, Foils, pouches, wallets, cartons,
boxes etc. after passing the incoming instruction made by material testing department are
received from stores department.

Naked condoms are issued to packing machines for strip packing in foils as per the
packing systems. Required quantity of silicon oil is dosed in the strips as part of machine
operation. Quality of silicon oil dosed is as per customer standards.
Strips are packed in pouches and wallets and then to cartons and boxes as per
customer requirements. After completion of packing of a batch, it is informed to QA
department for inspection.
Primary packing : The input materials using in this process are foil, silicon oil, and naked
condoms. Under Primary packaging, activities undertaken are dosing of lubricant, foil
printing and primary packing in foil. For primary packing we are using 4 types of machines:

SR machines (Single Rectangular Machine): In this machine we are using squeeze

type foil. This machine is mainly used for Govt. order and free supply. Here batch
printing is done online using water based ink. Speed of machine is 83 pieces / min.

SS machine (Static Square Machine): This machine is used for square type foil.
This machine is mainly used for domestic or export orders. Here batch printing is done
offline. Speed of machine is 60 pieces / min.

ST machine (Static Square Machine): This machine is used for square type foil. This
machine is mainly used for domestic or export orders. Here batch printing is done
offline. Speed of machine is 60 pieces / min.

BRT machine (Boryung Rotary Technology Machine): This machine is automatic

machine. Here condoms are fed in a vibrating tray and due to vibrations condoms are
aligned on feeder. In this machine jumbo reel ie.170 mm foil is used. Thus 3 line
packing is done in this machine. The speed of each line is 40 pieces/min. Sealing
temperatures provided here is 100oC.

The machine under study is BRT machine ( Boryung Rotary Technology Machine)
used for the packing of condoms. Foil unwinding mechanism in the machine is having a lot
of problems like varying tension in the foils, varying release rate of foil. The so called
problems are now reduced with the help of dead weights and supporting rollers. But for the
machine to be more efficient a new mechanism for foil unwinding should be implemented.

OBJECTIVE

The main objective of the project is to identify the problem of foil unwinding in the
BRT machine ( Boryung Rotary Technology Machine) and to design and fabricate an
advanced system for the same.

METHODOLOGY

Data Collection

Includes collection of the drawing of the particular machine

Study about the current mechanism used for foil unwinding.

Speed of the machine, torque, tension in the foil, slip etc.

Propose a new mechanism for foil unwinding

Design of the new mechanism

Fabrication of the mechanism