The Mumbai-based ACG Worldwide, a global multifaceted group of companies focussed on solid dosage form delivery, is planning to set up three new facilities at Shirwal, near Pune district, Maharashtra with an investment of around Rs 400 crore in next two years, as part of its partnership and capacity building exercise.

The company will set up a factory for fluid bed processor manufacturing under its joint venture, Pam Glatt Pharma Technologies Pvt Ltd, a second factory with latest technology in tablet pressing for its joint venture firm, ACG Korsch and a third facility for capsule filling under its flagship engineering company, PAM Pharmaceutical and Allied Machinery Co Ltd, according to Ajith Singh, chairman, ACG Worldwide Group.

“The facility for Pam Glatt is expected to be ready for launching in eight months. All the three facilities will be launched in next two years. We will carry on the existing manufacturing operations in our Mumbai facility and the facilities at Shirwal will enable us to handle the excess production requirements,” he said. The company will use internal accruals for funding the expansion.

PAM-Glatt was set up as a joint venture between ACG Worldwide and Glatt GmbH, Germany, pioneers of fluid bed technology, for the manufacture of world class FBE fluid bed processors in India.

The FBE fluid bed processors provide cost-effective solutions for standard applications in the pharmaceutical, chemical, food and feed industries. It is versatile over a wide range of processes including batch granulation, agglomeration of powder products, top spray film coating and batch drying of moist substances.

The alliance between ACG-Pam and Korsch AG, a world leader in tablet presses, has been announced of late and a JV has been signed to produce and market tablet pressing systems in the first week of December on the sidelines of the CPhI/P-MEC/ICSE India 2009 exhibition.

As per the agreement, ACG-PAM, the flagship engineering company of ACG Worldwide will get the design from the Korsch and will manufacture the machines in its own facility. With this, the company will be able to supply tablet compression systems with advanced German technology at affordable prices, according to the company officials. The JV with ACG Worldwide will open up the Asia-Pacific pharma machinery market to Korsch.

Pam Pharmaceutical, the engineering firm under ACG Group, manufactures a wide range of capsule sorting, filling, polishing, inspection, handling and de-blistering machines. Manufacturing the entire gamut of machines for capsule filling operations for a total solution makes it the only one of its kind in the world, claims the company.

The company has successfully completed installation of over 12,000 machines worldwide, explains the company officials.

The company has set up a factory in the beginning of December for barrier packaging films with an investment of nearly Rs 100 crore at Shirwal. The new facility is expected to commence production by March 2010, said Singh.