Continuous and digital - contribution to the topic of continuous production and process monitoring
Nothing is more important in the production of pharmaceuticals than a precise process flow. Continuous processes and digital systems ensure the consistent quality of high-quality products and a high level of patient safety.
Nothing is more important in the production of pharmaceuticals than a precise process flow. Continuous processes and digital systems ensure the consistent quality of high-quality products and a high level of patient safety. At the same time, they ensure low costs.
No topic is more hotly debated in the pharmaceutical industry than the introduction of continuous production. As a pioneer and innovator in continuous processes, L.B. Bohle has been setting benchmarks in the field of wet and dry granulation and coating since the 2000s. The Technology Center, which opened in 2015, also serves as a unique test and development centre for continuous processes in pharmaceutical production.
Until now, however, the market has lacked a solution for true continuous drying. Our aim at L.B. Bohle was to close this gap. in 2018, we presented QbCon® 1, the first R&D system that truly fulfils all requirements. Short dwell times and narrow Residence Time Distributions ensure reproducible quality. The drying process is so efficient that the residual moisture of the pellets is partially below the initial moisture of the raw material.
Entry into continuous production
QbCon® 1 is the ideal introduction to continuous production and has already proven itself in production. Our development team developed and optimised the solution in just six months. QbCon® 1 is a fully integrated software and mechanical system comprising various components such as powder dosing, liquid dosing, wet granulation and drying.
By using PAT, the production process can be tracked inline. This leads to consistent and efficient production of high-quality products, high patient safety, lower costs, a better understanding of the process and optimised process control.
The entire process is controlled and monitored via a touch panel. QbCon® 1 requires little space, is quick to install and realises throughputs of 0.5 to 2.5 kg/h (nominal throughput).
Monitoring app for the pharmaceutical environment
As Managing Director Technology, I see a major challenge in avoiding machine downtime and faulty production. Today, machine operators often have to keep a constant eye on all process and operating data for entire production lines. This is hardly feasible given the often large number of systems.
We have therefore developed a solution that enables systems with programmable logic controllers (PLC) to send and process the recorded data to a communication server. Using our b.sure® app, customers can keep an eye on their processes at all times on authorised end devices or on a desktop PC, enabling them to detect and react to deviations in Process Parameters or errors at an early stage.
In contrast to other monitoring solutions on the market with an external cloud solution, b.sure takes into account the special features of the highly sensitive pharmaceutical environment and processes the data in the customer's network. In-house 5G networks will open up completely new fields of application in the automated production of pharmaceutical products in the future.
Further information:
22. November 2019
