ATS Wins First Order for New Drug-factory Machine Vision System: $2.9M

CAMBRIDGE, Ont. (CP) - ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc. (TSX:ATA) announced Monday that a major pharmaceutical company has placed a $2.9-million order for two new machine-vision inspection systems.

The robot quality-control units will inspect prescription drugs; with minor modification they can inspect a range of common formats including vial, plastic ampoule or pre-filled syringe packages.

‘‘ATS has made major headway in the health-care industry over the past four years by applying its knowledge to solve customer challenges,’‘ stated Klaus Woerner, president and chief executive officer.

‘‘This order demonstrates that we have the solutions that pharma is looking for, and most important, that we can give this particular customer a platform that significantly outperforms existing inspection technologies.’‘

The order from an unidentified customer is in addition to $54 million in new orders obtained in the first five weeks of company's current quarter.