AZO COMPONENTER? in Pharmaceutical Production

- Productivity increasing ingredient automation -

In ASEAN’s two largest economies, Indonesia and Thailand, the development of the pharmaceutical industry plays a major role. Driven by demographic shift, the Covid-19 pandemic and other factors, the domestic demand is growing steadily. Both countries are mostly focused on manufacturing generic products, capabilities of producing active pharmaceutical ingredients remain low. As a result, both nations mainly import active pharmaceutical ingredients. With supply chains under pressure, raw material price fluctuations bear a significant risk to this industry[1]. As a result, plant productivity becomes even more important.

Automating ingredient handling is one way to increase productivity. In the pharmaceutical industry a large variety of ingredients are used. Some of them are of very high value, others are unhealthy for the operator if breathed in. Stringent hygienic requirements, cross-contamination free handling and the ability of track and tracing are challenges to be addressed. AZO’s optimal solution is the often-used AZO Componenter? in linear arrangement. ???

Different than the previously discussed AZO ComponenterStep?, the AZO Componenter? in linear arrangement is designed for larger batch volumes and even higher ingredient flexibility.?

The basic requirement of the AZO Componenter? is a building layout with at least two floors, better three floors. Whilst the top floor is the preparation area for all the ingredients, the floor beneath hosts the AZO Componenter? itself.?Since raw materials are delivered in various types of packaging such as 25kg bags, big bags or containers, bag tipping stations, big bag stations or container discharge stations will be located at the top floor. Optimally, this floor is easy to reach from the warehouse to simplify workflow and logistics. All of the stations are discharge points for dedicated ingredients except for the container stations.

A large variety of ingredients

At the heart of the AZO Componenter? works a travelling industrial floor scale. It is a precision scale mounted on a motorized sledge. ?The sledge moves along a line of the discharge points in order to collect each ingredient in a container, the AZO Batchtainer? as shown in Picture 2. Each discharge point is equipped with a precision dosing device, typically a dosing screw. The screw itself is fed with the raw material from above. In this way, a large variety of different ingredients can be automated in a closed system, enabling the system to operate within the stringent requirements of the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry.?

For applications with an even larger variety of ingredients, the feeding point above the AZO Componenter? can be designed as a container discharge station.?As Figure 1 shows, containers are pre-commissioned near the raw material warehouse and then brought to the container discharge station by means of a forklift or more and more by an automated guided vehicle, AGV.?

Flexibility and hygiene to ensure highest Productivity

In case a different ingredient is required for the recipe, a new container can be brought in from the warehouse and placed on the container discharge station. For hygienic reasons, cleaning of the product contacting part is made very easy or even automated if required. Ones the AZO Batchtainer? is filled, it is moved to the next step. This could be a powder mixer or as shown in Picture 3 a tumbler blender.?

It’s a fully automated process

The AZO Componenter? system is controlled by an AZO control system and operated from the control room. Operators can continuously monitor the status of the system on their PC screen. Except the tipping process of the ingredients, the operation is fully automated, facilitating tracking and tracing as it is required for pharmaceutical production. ?As a result, the AZO Componenter? ensures manufacturers of pharmaceutical products highest production flexibility and with that, a higher productivity while ensuring stringent hygiene standards. However, the AZO Componenter? may not only be used in the pharmaceutical industry. It can be applied in the food, chemical, and petrochemical industry as well.

If you would like to read more about different methods of automating ingredient batching, please follow this link.

About AZO Ltd.

AZO Ltd. provides innovative bulk material and raw material handling solutions for the reliable automation of ingredient handling in the food, pharmaceutical, chemical and plastic industry in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

For more information about AZO’s solutions for the plastic industry, check out our website or sign up to AZO's newsletter. We are looking forward to planning your next ingredient handling automation steps together with you!

written by: Jan-Wilko Helms

[1] Informamarkets: CPhIinsights 2020