Detecting metal contamination plays an important role in final quality check for food safety or process safety. Though the basic technology remains same, today metal detection technology has risen to newer heights in meeting the challenges. It is of prime importance that the right metal detector is selected based on right application and industry conditions.
The role of metal detection and validation for quality checks has now gained prominence than at any other time. Especially the highly regulated pharmaceutical sector which has the responsibility of manufacturing lifesaving drugs needs to be vigilant with its production and packing lines to ensure quality, contamination free and safe drugs.
At present the metal detectors manufacturers for pharmaceutical industry are developing equipment with most advanced features embedded in them such as, ultra high sensitivity to all metals, ease of setting, validation stamping, on-line production data validation and comprehensive service and application support all available in them.
Currently, globally the main players use the digital technology, whereas others stick to the analogue which has lot of inherent limitations says Subramaniam , General Manager of Technofour Electronics. Technofour uses Digital Technology with HMI hence user-friendly and addition of lot of features useful, from audit point of view, he pointed out
The story of Technofour , started in 1972 , is a saga of determination and courage and technical proficiency of four young IIT graduates. The planned and systematic efforts for developing non-destructive testing systems worked wonders for industries at large. The venture which had a humble beginning is now located in the new state of art facility spread around seven acres at Kasurdi near Khed Shivapur in Pune.
Metal contamination gets generated accidentally during various stages of automated process of the manufacturing. While identifying and eliminating metal is important , equally important is to identify the source of the contamination. Though it would be practically impossible to install metal detector at each and every stage of manufacturing, it should be considered a must for in-process identification of the source of such metal contamination.
It is of utmost important to select the right metal detection and rejection technique and should never be compromised as the whole purpose of detection & rejection go hand-in-hand and depends totally on each other.
With regulators cracking whip on ensuring quality and safety of pharmaceutical products, the metal detection and validation industry in India is currently booming with an annual growth of about 25 per cent and is poised to grow at 30 per cent in the coming years.
In the Indian scenario very few players are comparable to the technology adopted by us says Subramaniam. “We are very much competitive as compared to the imported, from the technology point of view and also cost - effective. The greatest advantage is that we can understand the Indian environment hence, customize the equipment to suit the requirement", he added.
Technofour today manufactures metal detector systems, checkweigher systems, dedusters and pin hole detectors which are used in the pharmaceutical, food industries & FMCGs.
"We are one of the major manufacturers of Product Checking System in India and our development team is working hard to add few more product checking systems and their supporting equipment and be a big player in the global market", adds Subramaniam.
According to him one of the main challenges faced by the industries is that still, many people are not very much aware of the technology limitations and the expectations are very high without considering the application limitations.
However according to him, the prospects of the industry is very good since, many people are getting more and more quality conscious and wanting to implement metal detector system in their line.