Case Study: Pharmaceutical CMO Uses X-Ray, Metal Detection And Checkweigher Systems To Achieve High Quality Standards

Pharma Tech Industries (PTI), a contract manufacturer and packer of pharmaceuticals, medical devices and personal care products, is focused on exceeding customers' expectations. To consistently achieve their high quality standards, they rely on x-ray and metal detection systems from Mettler-Toledo Safeline and checkweighers from Mettler-Toledo Hi-Speed.

"Last summer, when we were looking for an x-ray inspection system for a new production line, we considered several suppliers," said Bill Leonard, Engineering Manager at PTI's Royston, Georgia facility. "We chose the SmartChek x-ray system based on the quality of the equipment, the reputation of the supplier and the responsiveness of the supplier's service team."

The x-ray system at PTI inspects OTC and prescription pharmaceuticals – powdered products packed in pouches made of metalized film. The ability to detect metal contamination through the metalized film lead to PTI's decision to install this x-ray system, though it detects glass, stone, bone, rubber and other contaminants too.

"We have not had any problems with contamination and we don't expect to have any problems. The x-ray system protects our products in the unlikely event of raw material contamination or catastrophic machine breakdown," noted Leonard. "The system is more sensitive to detecting minute metal than Mettler-Toledo Safeline promises. It's been a very pleasant surprise to find out what this system can achieve. Despite this high level of sensitivity, we've had zero false rejects other than those that result from incorrect spacing of pouches caused by upstream equipment – overlapping pouches trigger the x-ray to reject the packages."

"The Safeline x-ray system is extremely easy to operate. The user interface is really straightforward. The operator can see what they are supposed to do without much training," said Leonard.