New Vial Washer Technology Introduced To Improve Changeover Time

PennTech Machinery Corporation (Booth #N-549) is working to meet demand for process flexibility among the makers of injectable products like vaccines. As the manufacturer of equipment for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, PennTech offers solutions that can process high-potency products in smaller batches to meet the needs of pharmaceutical companies and contract manufacturers.

“There aren’t as many blockbuster products that require big runs,” says John Erdner, vice president of sales and marketing, PennTech Machinery Corporation. “It’s about frequency of runs, not speed. In the past 600 vial per minute lines were developed to accommodate batch sizes in excess of 100,000 vials but these lines required a long time to clean, changeover and decontaminate between production runs.”

“ Now batch sizes of 1000 to 10,000 vials are more common and the focus today is to run these batches more efficiently (higher yields) with less time required between batches. Slower speed lines (100 – 200 vials per minute) can accommodate component variations better to improve line efficiencies, and net weigh filling techniques can minimize product waste during set up and end of the batch run out.”

Minimizing changeover time is also a crucial component to improve line capacities with smaller batch sizes. At Pharma EXPO, PennTech will showcase its new external vial washer. To optimize cleaning and product quality, this machine uses a vial transfer belt to form a watertight seal around the cap to block out moisture as the vials move through the high-pressure spray nozzles.

This model is an example of using technology to improve changeover time. The machine uses tool-less quick-release infeed and exit feed screws. The external washer is completely servo driven to control vial movement and position adjustments in relationship to cleaning and drying nozzles. Therefore the critical parameters of the process are easily validated and repeatable while adjustments are recipe driven for consistency and further reducing changeover time.