The growth in advancement and up-gradation of pharma machinery technology has been faster in India. From almost low technology offerings in the initial stages, the Indian pharma machinery industry has grown to a noted player in this segment, offering value added engineering with integration of new technologies. Various international companies, taken up by the cost effective nature, have entered into collaborative ventures with Indian players. The number of joint ventures between foreign and Indian machinery manufacturers is a testimony to the fact that the Indian machinery industry understands the stringent need of pharmaceutical industry and that it can produce international quality machines at affordable prices.
It is significant to note that India and China are making machinery, which are 10-20 times less expensive than that of those made in the US and Europe. But machines made by German companies are unbeatable and it is difficult for Indian manufacturers to produce machines that match the quality of machines made by Germany. However, prices of German machines are undoubtedly more than that of Indian machinery.
In future, it will not be surprising to find managers of pharmaceutical companies waging an all-out war in the market to gain a competitive leverage, with little or no time to efficiently plan and design their manufacturing processes, which would possibly slash their production costs and increase their bottom line. In this wake, the Indian machinery will come handy. Like information technology, the Indian machinery industry is also making in-roads in global markets to lead a manufacturing revolution.
Apart, Indian pharmaceutical machine makers and their Western counterparts are increasingly exploring collaborations and partnerships with each other to innovate or share new technology. Together, these players are targeting more price conscious developing countries.
In India, there are around 17,000 pharmaceutical companies, providing tremendous scope for the machinery manufacturers to exploit the potential by providing necessary machinery by ensuring proper design, ease of user application, simple maintenance and validation protocol for new equipment that are essential for the pharmaceutical companies.
Also, the country has around 800 pharmaceutical machine manufacturing and allied utility service units in the small and medium sector. Though only a few companies have made a mark in the area of branded market, majority of these units undertake job works and supply custom made machineries taking the location advantage of buyers.
Packaging technologies which show substantial potential for growth are horizontal and vertical form-fill-seal machines for different goods, be it solids, granules or liquids. Blister packing and cartoning machines, form-fill-seal machines for flat-top-and -bottom models, bag-in-box systems, sterilization and filling technologies for vials and ampoules, as well as filling and sealing of metal containers are also technologies with rising local demand.
There are more than 350 pharma machine manufacturing facilities in India in categories like instrumentation and process control, lab equipment, pharma research and development tools and techniques, pharmaceutical machinery, packaging material and machines, plant design and engineering, apart from pharmaceutical process technology and software. It is to be noted that the Indian pharma machinery manufacturing sector is growing in tandem with the larger pharmaceutical industry.
When it comes to pharma machines, the Indian players have an edge over the Chinese players with necessary customization or after-sales support and documentation for operating and maintenance. Also, Indian pharma machine manufacturers have the advantage of fluency in English and greater technology-orientated skills.
An increasing number of foreign pharmaceutical machine manufacturers have recognized India's achievements and evolution in the industry. Indian machines are manufactured and used in accordance with international standards and do not hazard the inspection and approval of their facility. This is one of the many reasons that India has the most FDA approved facilities in the world.
Machinery standards
The International regulatory requirements for the pharmaceutical machinery manufacturers are as per cGMP, US FDA and MCA standards. For international standard of pharmaceutical machinery quality systems like ISO-9000, standardization, services, innovation and continuous improvement of design are very essential.
The Indian machinery makers design most of the equipment meeting the stringent safety and regulatory requirements in various western countries. Every pharmaceutical company has its own system of procedures for manufacturing and maintaining its machines, as an effort to meet the latest GMP compliance. Keeping with this line, the machinery manufacturers follow a set of procedures with proper documentation. Most of the time, it is the pharma manufacturer, which educates the machinery manufacturer on the latest fashion in the machinery and upgradation in WHO GMP norms.
As a reward to its better GMP compliance, Indian pharma machinery manufacturers are entering the regulated markets in developed countries. Also, several Indian pharma machine manufacturers have started getting enquiries from Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Finland and some semi-regulated markets like Latin America, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.
Export business is up-gradation in technology, regulatory standards and ultimately quality of drugs manufactured in India. Export to regulated markets implies that the same global standards of manufacture and control are applied to products manufactured here. The manufacturing facilities in India are thus being upgraded to the standards of the regulated markets.
Looking at the capabilities of Indian engineering companies, many international machine manufactures have joined hands with some Indian companies. It has helped the Indian pharmaceutical industry to procure improved home made machinery at a price almost one fourth or one-third of the imported technology.
Machinery applications
In manufacturing a pharmaceutical product, various types of machineries are required at each processing stage from production to packaging. The various pharmaceutical machines have got different applications. They are:
● Tablet coating machine: It is used for sugar and film coating of tablets, pallets, granules etc
● Fully automatic tablet counting & filling machine: It is suitable for counting and filling hard gelatine capsules, soft gels, coated tablets, tablets, bean or ball shaped objects, round pills and other solid material
● Roll compactor: It is designed for the densification by compacting powder for the pharmaceutical and bulk drug industries
● Comminuting mill: It is used for wet and dry granulation, pulverization or dispersion of product or ingredients in pharmaceutical, chemical, bulk drug, food & other industries
● Multi mill: It is a self contained portable unit useful for high speed granulating, pulverizing, mixing, shredding and chopping of a wide range of wet and dry materials
● The fluid bed dryer: It is most suitable for drying granular crystalline, coarse or similar material in pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals, dyes, food and allied products
● Tray dryer: It is used for drying of pigments, food, bakery, electrodes, chemical and plastic powders
● Vibro sifter: It is used in various industries such as chemicals, pharmaceuticals, dyestuff and pigments, ceramics, food products, detergents, cosmetics, pesticides, and fertilizers, paper pulp, plastics, resins, paints, polyester chips, minerals, rubber compounds, slurries, metal, powders
● Octagonal blender: It is an efficient and versatile blending machine for mixing and lubrication process of dry granules equally. It can be used for pharmaceutical, food, chemical and cosmetic products etc
● Mass mixers: This is a special pharmaceutical machinery used for through mixing of wet as well as dry or lump material, especially suited for tablet granulation
● V-Type blenders: It is most suitable for paints, dye-stuffs and pharmaceutical
● Double cone blender: It is an efficient and versatile machine for mixing dry powder and granulates uniformly
● Double sided tabletting press machine: It is used to produce round, double-sided engraved or irregular tablets in a wide variety of shapes
● Tablet press machine: It can produce all types of round tablets, irregular tablets and tablets of engraved on double sides
● Punches and dies: It is used for continuous production, longer life of machine parts hence less spares consumption
● Dust extraction unit: It is used to control the flying dust generated during high-speed compression of tablets
● Capsule filler: This is used to fill hard gelatine and non gelatine capsules with predetermined quantity of liquids, powders, pellets and tablets
● Capsule inspection machine: It ensures fast and accurate checking and sorting of all defects in different types of tablets
● Capsule counting and packing machine: This machine is most suitable for counting and packaging of capsules or tablets
● Powder filling machine: It is used in pharmaceutical, cosmetics, chemical and food & beverage industries. Powder filling machines are suitable for sterile, injectable and dry syrup powder filling
● Ampoule filling machine: It is used to fill ampoules as well as vials
● Liquid filling machine: It is a specialized machine used to fill bottles, vials, ampoules and other containers with predetermined quantity of liquids
● Volumetric liquid filling machine: This machine is best suited for filling liquids with low to medium viscosity
● Vacuum liquid filling machines: These are best suited for filling liquids that are foamy and caustic in nature
● Semi automatic volumetric liquid filling machine: It can be used for different types of glass, plastic and metal containers
● Vial filling machines: These are used to fill vials and bottles with liquids, viscous material and suspensions and powders
● Labelling machines: These are suitable for labelling on round vials, bottles and other round objects
● High speed fully automatic self adhesive sticker labelling system with integrated security system is used for labelling vials, ampoules and syringes
● Automatic wet glue bottle labelling machine: It is useful for PVC, PET, glass bottles for liquor, pharmaceuticals, beverages and chemical industries
● Automatic carton code printing machine: It can print on plain, laminated and varnish carton as well as on polythene bags
● Label printing machine: It is used to print primary, secondary, top, bottom, wraparound or multi-panel variable product identification labeling
● Rotary bottle washing machine: It is used for washing injection bottles, infusion bottles, ampoules, cartridges and syringes
● ROPP CAP sealing machine: It is suitable to apply ROPP cap on round as well as flat, rectangular shaped bottles
● Ointment manufacturing plants: These are ideal for the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries for the production of ointment, creams, toothpaste, lotions and other emulsions
● Planetary mixer: It is useful for thorough mixing of ointments, creams, lotions, toothpastes etc. in sterile or non-sterile conditions
● Fluid bed dryer: These are most suitable for drying granular crystalline, coarse or similar material in pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals, dyes, food and allied products
● Vacuum tray dryer: It is used mainly for drying of high grade, temperature and oxygen sensitive products
● Dry heat sterilizer: It has the advantage that it can be used on powders and other heat-stable items that are adversely affected by steam
● ETO sterilizers: These are widely used in the pharmaceutical industry and health care institutions to sterilize products sensitive to moisture or heat
● Sterilizing tunnel: It is a tunnel like region, responsible for dry heat sterilization and depyrogenation of containers, vials, bottles, ampoules etc
● Cleaning in place or CIP systems: These are widely used in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry to clean and decontaminate tanks, reactors, decanting pumps and transfer lines
● Sifter: It is suitable for separation of foreign objects from dry powder before mixing
● Vibro sifters: These are used to separate mass composition of solids, liquid from solid and for gradation of materials as per particle sizes
● Blister packaging machines: These are used for the packing tablets, capsules pills and other similar products
● Conveyor belt: It is used to transport or convey particles, raw materials or finished products from one place to another
● Box strapping machines: These are widely used to package all kinds and sizes of boxes including corrugated boxes and PP boxes
● Carton sealing machines: These are used for sealing of cartons, boxes of various sizes and shapes
● Shrink wrap machines: These machines make use of plastic to effectively seal a container or product by tightly surrounding it
● Cartoning systems: These are suitable for online cartoning of blisters, bottles, vials, vial and ampoule, bottle and dropper, tubes etc.
(Courtesy: pharmaceuticalmachinery.in)