Batch Genealogy You Can Actually Prove
Track every unit from tube stock to batch release — real-time production visibility and audit-ready traceability, without touching your validated equipment.
Production Genealogy
Tube Intake & Loading
Converting (Hot End)
Annealing Lehr
Cosmetic & Dimensional Inspection
Batch Release
Segregate a Window, or Write Off the Batch
That's the actual choice most converting plants face when a defect surfaces late — because without unit-level resolution on when and where it was made, there's no narrower option. Tighter traceability is what turns that into a targeted call instead of a costly default.
- When a defect surfaces late, plants can't isolate which window of production it came from — so the choice becomes over-segregating far more good product than necessary, or writing off the whole batch
- Cosmetic and dimensional rejects get tracked as one rolled-up scrap number, hiding whether the problem is upstream (a bad tube lot) or on a specific converting head
- Forming-heat variation across chucks can degrade inner-surface durability without any visible defect — it only shows up later as a hydrolytic resistance or delamination result
- Annealing records and polariscope results live separately from production counts, so proving a batch was in-spec means reassembling data from multiple systems
- A stoppage on the converting line or in the lehr goes unnoticed until shift output falls short of target
Five Stages, One Trace
From tube intake to batch release — where Tork attaches at each stage, and why that matters for the record you have to produce at the end.
Tube Intake & Loading
Type I borosilicate tubing arrives by supplier lot and is staged onto the converter's loading turret. Tube-lot identity here is what every downstream trace hangs off.
Converting — The Hot End
Tube indexes through the main circuit (14-32 stations on a typical rotary converter). Upper chucks form the neck/finish, lower chucks form the base, and a separating burner thermally parts one article from the next.
Annealing Lehr
Multi-zone lehr relieves the residual stress the forming heat leaves behind. Under-annealed glass fails later — at depyrogenation, on the filling line, or in the field.
Cosmetic & Dimensional Inspection
100% inline vision inspection for cracks, black spots, and dimensional drift, backed by AQL sampling classified against the industry's defect lexicon.
Packing & Batch Release
Tray or nest-and-tub packing, then QA release — which depends on every upstream record (tube lot, lehr profile, inspection results, IPC) being complete and reconciled.
Watch a Converting Line Run
A rotary converter forming vials from Type I tubing, through the annealing lehr into the cold end — vision inspection, nest-and-tub packing and batch release, all on one trace. Click any machine to see what Tork records there.
Built for the Converting Floor
The same real-time capture and alerting approach Tork uses on glass container lines, applied to tubular glass converting — plus the traceability this industry actually needs.
Real-Time Stage Capture
Photoelectric counters at converting discharge and inspection reject chutes, reading pulses only — nothing taps into the converter's own control loop.
Batch & Lot Genealogy
Every count carries a timestamp; operator-entered tube-lot and batch IDs turn that into a live trace — narrow enough to segregate a window, not write off a batch.
Instant Stoppage Detection
State inferred from stack-light taps or current draw on the machine supply — automatic alerts the moment a line stops, instead of finding out at shift-end.
Cosmetic vs. Dimensional Reject Split
Rejection dashboards broken out by defect class, not rolled into one scrap %, so you can tell a tubing problem from a forming-head problem.
Lehr & Historical Analytics
Independent shadow logging of lehr zone data alongside production counts, plus trend history to correlate rejects with a specific head, tooling, or shift.
No Equipment Modification
Read-only attachment — converting, annealing, and inspection equipment stays exactly as qualified. Configured software, not a control-system change.
Built Around How Your Plant Is Actually Staffed
Converting Operators
Real-time visibility into which chuck or head is drifting, before it shows up as a rejection spike.
QA & Validation
A production trace that supports the batch record instead of requiring a separate reconstruction for every audit or deviation.
Lehr & Annealing Techs
Zone temperature history logged independently, alongside piece counts, without touching the qualified lehr controller.
Plant & Quality Management
A cosmetic-vs-dimensional reject split and per-head yield data that points at root cause, not just a scrap total.
Before You Ask
Does this require modifying our validated or qualified equipment?
No. Attachment points are read-only — photoelectric counters, current clamps, and shadow thermocouples — installed outside the converter's and lehr's own control loop. Nothing about the qualified system changes.
Can it support batch or lot traceability for audits?
Yes — production counts, tube-lot identity, and timestamps combine into a live trace per batch and shift. That's what lets you segregate a narrow window of suspect product instead of defaulting to a full batch write-off when something surfaces late.
Is this specific to vials, or does it cover ampoules and cartridges too?
It applies across tubular converting lines generally. Vials, ampoules, and cartridges are formed differently — different chuck sequences, ampoules add code-ring and OPC scoring stations, cartridges hold much tighter bore tolerance — but the same real-time capture and traceability approach applies to all three.
How does this fit alongside our existing batch records and validation approach?
It's configured software that supports the official batch record rather than replacing it — audit trail intact, no record deletion, aligned with how a GAMP 5 / Part 11 environment expects supporting data to behave.
The Same Capture Approach, Already Running in Production
Tork's real-time capture and downtime detection is already running on glass container lines. See how it works in practice for a manufacturer running it today.
Ready to Pilot This on Your Converting Line?
No sales scripts — just engineers who'll walk through what it takes to deploy on your line.