With increasing competition in pharmaceutical industry, leading global players along with small and medium scale players are increasingly adopting latest metal detection technologies in their processing and packing lines. Firms across the industry are adopting quality control automatic management systems to detect contamination with advanced metal detectors.
A recent example for the advancements in the metal detector segment is the new INSIGHT PH VF Pharmaceutical Vertical Fall metal detection system launched by Lock Inspection, a global metal detector manufacturer, to empower pharmaceutical manufacturers seeking to achieve product integrity of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) during the production process.
In India, currently the industry is going through a transition phase especially in the procurement and adoption of advanced technology. In this scenario, the demand for metal detectors is on the upswing, as more and more pharmaceutical and food processing industries are adopting most advanced metal detectors in their manufacturing and packing units.
Especially in the pharma sector, the safety of the product is of utmost importance till it reaches the end user. As there is a gradual adoption of most advanced and sophisticated equipment especially in the quality maintenance sector of the industry, the markets for metal detector will be on the rise in the near future.
According to Puroshothaman of Creative Packaging Solution Private Ltd, metal detectors play a vital role in safeguarding the quality and safety of medicinal products in the pharma industry. As pharmaceutical products are vulnerable to reactions and the slightest of contaminations, it has become imperative for the pharma players to install detectors in their product lines.
“With continuous changing international regulations, which stress on safety, efficacy and purity of medicinal products, pharma companies cannot take a chance and today everybody is keen to install the latest technology in their product lines,” said Puroshothaman.
Metal contamination has always been a major problem for the food industry. Contamination of food by metal shards from broken processing machinery during manufacture is a major safety issue in the food industry. Major contamination sources in the processing and manufacturing include mechanic's tools and pieces broken off equipment, tags and staples carried into the plant with ingredients, and personal effects like jewellery and pens.
Metal detectors are not new to food processors. Many companies have installed systems in their plants for years to protect expensive production equipment from damage and to produce metal-free finished products, but of late automation has brought in new changes especially with regard to efficiency and speed.
“India is still lagging behind in adopting the advanced technology. Presently the industry needs most advanced systems especially in the quality control segment. Only a few big players have adopted sophisticated metal detection systems. As we are in the transition stage the future looks bright for the growth of metal detectors segment. So in the coming days the industry will see an upswing,” said Mubeen, spokes person, Ain securities and control systems.
Metal detectors are of various types. Most of them are currently used by the security agencies and police to detect hidden bombs and illegal smuggling of chemicals or weapons. Industrial metal detectors are used in the pharmaceutical, food, beverage, textile, plastics, chemicals and packaging industries.
“As the pharma and biotechnology industries are knowledge - based and highly regulated and sensitive to slightest of the faults, it has become imperative for the pharma players to incorporate advanced metal detection technology in every segment of pharma right from bulk drugs, excipients and finished formulations,” says a spokes person of the industry.
Especially in the pharmaceutical and food processing industry, metal detectors are deployed in the conveyor belts where tablets or some other medicinal products are being processed or packed.
Metal detectors for this purpose are widely used and integrated into the production line. “In pharma industry, utmost care should be taken while packing the tablet, or while filling the liquid syrup in the glass bottles. Any error in the system may lead to contamination.
So for this purpose, metal detectors and vibrators are used to find faults in the system as well as in the products. Since detection of errors is difficult for the humans, product lines in the manufacturing units are installed with metal detectors to detect any default packaging and thus maintain quality and safety,” said Solomon Sudheer, MD, Astra vision securities.
The new VF metal detector
The newly launched INSIGHT PH VF Pharmaceutical Vertical Fall metal detection system does not negate the need for end-of-line product inspection, which remains a Critical Control Point (CCP) for pharmaceutical manufacturers, but enables customers to develop a leaner, more efficient and profitable business by reducing product waste and manufacturing downtime earlier in the production process. The new system will help to empower pharmaceutical manufacturers seeking to achieve product integrity during the production process.
In fact the new VF metal detector is a fully validatable system, with four level protected security, is constructed and designed to comply with 21 CFr Pts 210 and 211, and includes a comprehensive range of communication options to enable users to extract and report inspection data in a variety of ways including a USB portal, via wired or wireless Ethernet or directly feed data into the onsite SCADA system for monitoring purposes as required by the FDA.
The evolution of the new INSIGHT PH VF Pharmaceutical Vertical Fall system, which inspects raw materials in powder or granular form for contaminants at a flow rate of up to 3250 kg/hr prior to the tableting process, anticipates a new market trend which Lock is expecting to see increase at a faster pace.
Currently, the trend of having independent manufacturing sites that handle production of APIs and the finished tablet is an increasingly popular business model, resulting from lean manufacturing strategies and the drive to increase profitability. When handling large scale production quantities, it does increase the risk of product contamination due to the numerous parties which handle the product throughout the process.
To overcome drawbacks of the earlier detection systems and to make a reliable and robust detection system, Lock inspection has developed its in-process INSIGHT PH VF Pharmaceutical Vertical Fall system. This system can be used both to review the API leaving one site and then again when it enters the next stage of the process at the tableting site, has been specifically developed to deliver the assurance of product integrity to the growing number of manufacturers who have adopted this fragmented supply chain model.
Not only is the inspection of materials before tableting /packing increasingly important to maintain product integrity, it also protects expensive machinery components such as tablet press tooling from damage by foreign objects hidden in the ingredients. The INSIGHT PH VF Pharmaceutical Vertical Fall machine delivers the same class leading sensitivity levels as its sister machine used for inspecting tablets and capsules; contaminated material is automatically removed using a fully integrated sealed flap or cowbell type reject, and Lock’s innovative OPTIX detector management software and DDS (Direct Digital Signal) creates vector diagrams to help manufacturers achieve quick automated product set-ups and a high level of traceability.