Leaning QC: Lonza Rolls Out Raman For Materials ID

By paul thomas, senior editor

As part of an effort to Lean its raw material QC process, Lonza Biologics' Portsmouth, New Hampshire facility evaluated several new spectroscopic technologies—Raman, NIR, and FTIR handheld or portable devices—for rapidly verifying incoming raw materials. The manufacturer sought to shave significant time off its compendial, lab-based sampling and analysis of materials, without sacrificing ID accuracy and specificity.

Ultimately, Lonza selected handheld Raman devices (TruScan, marketed by Thermo Fisher Scientific) to roll out in Portsmouth, and to extend this implementation worldwide to all of its biologics facilities.

A key factor was the need to have a more transparent supply chain and harmonized processes, says senior QC manager for raw materials, Derek Hubley. Increasingly, customers prefer materials testing and specifications to be consistent from one site to the next, he says. We spoke with Hubley about the project.