Pharmaceutical Dispensary Applications

Automated dispensing systems are utilized throughout the pharmaceutical industry for the loading of excipients, active pharmaceutical ingredients (API’s), and lubricants into Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBC’s) and other large vessel devices. In most pharmaceutical plants, separate broaching areas are established in which the raw materials or excipients may be brought in from outside suppliers or other plant locations. These broaching areas usually include the unloading of pallets containing drums or boxes, or the unloading of supersacks. The contents of each container are transferred via either gravity flow or pneumatic transfer to the dispensary area for the loading of IBC’s. Following this loading operation, lossin- weight (LIW) feeders are used to regulate and meter the amount of these components being fed into the receiving IBC. LIW feeders are critical when utilizing small weight percentages of individual ingredients that are a fraction of the total batch weight.