Bosch showcases new continuous manufacturing device at CPhI Worldwide

Bosch Packaging Technology has showcased a new laboratory device for continuous manufacturing at CPhI Worldwide.

The company’s Xelum R&D device is on display for the first time at CPhI. The device offers reduced development time due to its continuous production, giving manufacturers an ideal place to start OSD production, Bosch hopes.

Unlike continual mass flow, the Xelum R&D doses excipients and active ingredients as a discrete mass, enabling customers to dose even the smallest amounts of APIs.

“The Xelum R&D is the first R&D machine to combine charging, dosing of several ingredients and blending with granulation, drying and discharging in one unit,” Fritz-Martin Scholz, product manager at the Bosch subsidiary Hüttlin, explained.

More so, because of the device’s X-key approach, products can be traced at all times potentially reducing the system’s failure susceptibility and process complexity, while increasing the product’s accuracy and quality.

Visitors to the company’s booth this week can also see how Bosch Pharma Service and Industry 4.0 solutions support pharmaceutical manufacturers in increasing transparency and efficiency of their laboratory processes.

“With our wide range of laboratory solutions, we offer our customers an ideal starting position for a fast time-to-market of their pharmaceuticals,“ Fritz-Martin Scholz said.

Bosch is also showcasing its new data mining service which evaluates existing machine data more effectively to identify and eliminate root causes.

“Machine deviations are often classified as ‘human error’ due to misinterpretations or missing information,” Dr Marc Michaelis, expert for continuous production and process verification at Hüttlin, said. “Yet we assume that this is true for no more than 10%.”

The company’s new data mining tools enable it to examine large amounts of data for the smallest effects using statistical methods.

“This way we can recognise hidden connections and eliminate failure causes. Large investments are not required. What it takes is technical expertise and extensive process know-how. Our experts can support pharmaceutical manufacturers all over the world to make the most of their existing data,” Dr Michaelis said.

Bosch Packaging Technology is at CPhI worldwide: October 9-11, 2018, hall 4, booth G 22.