By Louis Roy, Founder and CEO, OPTEL Group

At OPTEL, we’ve always believed that innovation should serve a greater purpose. For 35 years, our mission has been to help manufacturers make their supply chains more transparent, more resilient, and more efficient, not only to comply with regulations but to secure supply chains and ensure product safety.

Today, I’m thrilled to share a major milestone in our journey: OPTEL has officially acquired Vanguard Robotics, a specialist in end-of-line collaborative robot (cobot) solutions designed specifically for the pharmaceutical industry.

But why this move, and why now? Let me share some context and answer a few questions you may have.

Q: Why invest in cobot automation now?

The pharmaceutical sector is changing fast. Many of our customers face growing workforce challenges: labor shortages, rising operational costs, and the constant need to maintain the highest product quality.

Cobots (collaborative robots that work safely alongside people) are transforming how companies manage repetitive tasks like palletizing at the end of the production line. They free up skilled workers for higher-value tasks, boost efficiency, and deliver a quick return on investment.

The global cobot market is booming, expected to surpass $10 billion by 2030 — and we see a huge opportunity to help our customers seize this potential. Cobots represent one of the fastest-growing segments in industrial automation. Cobots represent one of the fastest-growing segments in industrial automation.

Q: Why Vanguard Robotics?

For several years, we’ve partnered closely with Vanguard Robotics to bring cobot palletizing to our pharma customers. Vanguard’s team understands the strict requirements of regulated pharmaceutical environments better than anyone. Their systems are built for compliance from documentation packages and validation to seamless integration with upstream processes like serialization, aggregation, and traceability.

By bringing Vanguard’s talent and technology fully into the OPTEL family, we can now offer our customers a smarter, more complete end-of-line solution, fully integrated with our trusted vision and track-and-trace systems.

Q: What makes our cobot solution stand out?

There’s no shortage of general-purpose cobot providers. But pharma is different: it demands reliability, validation-ready systems, and minimal disruption to production.

Our end-of-line palletizing solution checks all these boxes:

  • It’s easy to integrate with existing packaging and serialization lines.
  • It’s safe and simple to operate with built-in force sensing and safety-rated stop functions.
  • It reduces reliance on scarce labor, operates 24/7, and maintains process integrity at every step.
  • And because it’s from OPTEL, it’s backed by our global service and support network.

Q: What does this mean for our customers?

For our customers, it means we’re more equipped than ever to help you tackle your biggest operational challenges, with trusted partners you know. For our people, it means new opportunities to innovate, grow, and lead the way in next-generation pharma automation.

Back to Our Roots

When I founded OPTEL in 1989, I helped manufacturers improve line efficiency and product safety through cutting-edge vision systems. Nearly four decades later, we’ve grown tremendously, and our close collaboration with pharmaceutical manufacturers remains one of our greatest strengths. Returning to our roots, where innovation drives everything we do, is what motivates the entire OPTEL team today.

With our expanded portfolio of track-and-trace, vision, line automation and supply chain traceability solutions, we’ll keep empowering the pharmaceutical industry to meet today’s challenges, prepare for tomorrow’s, and build a more sustainable future for everyone.

Thank you for being part of this journey.

— Louis Roy

Founder & CEO, OPTEL Group

 

👉 Come see the COBOT live at Pack Expo Las Vegas, book your demo here!

👉 Explore our end-of-line palletizing solution for pharma: See how it works