Making a Difference – Brenton and Orion Ramp up Production to Support Operation Warp Speed Initiatives

As companies in the supply chain for COVID-19 vaccine distribution began ramping up activities last summer, Brenton and Orion were there for customers by expediting the design and building of end-of-line packaging and stretch-wrapping systems as part of Operation Warp Speed.

A public-private partnership initiated by the U.S. government, Operation Warp Speed (OWS) is a nationwide effort to accelerate the development, manufacturing and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. Since many of Brenton and Orion’s customers within the pharmaceutical and medical device industries are playing key roles in OWS, both brands have stepped up its efforts to make the rollout a success.

Brenton is a manufacturer of robotics for material handling, high-speed pick and place, packaging and end-of-line systems. Orion is a manufacturer of stretch-wrapping and pallet-unitizing machinery. Both brands operate in numerous industrial industries, including food and beverage, medical device, household products, personal care and many others.

One OWS project Brenton completed for a long-standing medical device customer involved an end-of-line system to handle the expected surge in packaging components such as syringes, needles, clamps and other supplies. Knowing that time was of the essence, Brenton sent extra personnel to the customer’s location to speed up installation and ensure the system was properly operating.

That same customer also ordered an additional end-of-line system to create a packaging line to meet increased demand from the vaccine rollout. Both projects had aggressive timelines to meet; the systems were operational ahead of schedule.

Orion is currently working on a project to band loads and apply corner boards automatically, as well as stretch-wrap packages of wipes for an OWS customer. This project is under a tight deadline and when operational, needs to apply the corner boards at a rate of 57 pallets an hour. The fact that Orion had successfully completed many other projects similar in scope helped the company win this business.

For more information, visit https://www.brentonengineering.com.