Articles
RSSSafeline's Pharmaceutical Metal Detectors Provide VIP Information For Eli Lilly
June 13, 2006
Click here to download this complete case study in PDF format.
"There are many potential sources of metal contamination including pharmaceutical processing equipment, which is stainless steel – and that's a difficult metal to detect," explains Alexa Boorstein Albrecht, Process Engineer, Dry Products Plant, Eli Lilly and Company.
A major component of the quality system for dry products manufacturing at Eli Lilly and Company is their automated testing and sampling system, ATAS. An integral part of this system is the tie-in to information generated by the in-line Safeline metal detectors, which use modern digital signal processing techniques for high performance operation on Lilly's tableting and capsule lines.
Although Lilly's quality system features this tie-in to metal detection information, the company has used Safeline metal detectors for many years. Previously, Lilly used its metal detectors off-line. "If we thought there was a problem in the process, we'd put the whole lot through a metal detector, eliminating any contaminated material. Then we'd examine rejects to find the source of the contamination," explained Ms. Albrecht.
Independent industry research has shown that the incidence of metal contamination ranges from one tablet in every 10,000 to 2 million produced, depending on production methods (for example, whether wet or dry granulation techniques are used). The Safeline pharmaceutical tablet metal detector provides 100% in-line inspection of tablets and capsules at the outlet of the press and screens for ferrous, non-ferrous and stainless steel contaminants. It has many features to enhance quality control measurements without interfering with smooth high-speed tablet manufacturing. In addition to a design that makes the most efficient use of the valuable space around the tablet press, the crucial inlet-to-outlet dimension has been reduced to 17.8" (440 mm) to minimize the fall height of the tablets. This also allows easy integration with dedusters and collection drums. The inlet chute is 5" (124mm) wide to accept most press outlets. The FDA –approved contact parts are easily removed without tools for cleaning.
Click here to download this complete case study in PDF format.
