Fette Compacting has developed a new service offering for the optimization of tablet production and capsule filling under the name Lifetime Efficiency. This service is based on the comprehensive analysis and systematic improvement of all production processes. It enables users not only to exploit previously untapped potentials, but also to increase the efficiency of production and achieve savings over the entire life cycle of the machine. The new FEC20 capsule filling machine is celebrating its world premiere at Achema 2018. Other highlights include an efficient solution for the continuous production of tablets and Containment Guard, a new standard for exact containment system designs.
Schwarzenbek, June 11, 2018 – The pharmaceutical industry faces some major challenges. High research and development costs, more stringent regulatory requirements, lack of standardized international approval procedures, fluctuations in demand, price regulations and increasingly complex product portfolios are only some of the factors which increase the pressure on efficiency. For manufacturers of pharmaceuticals, the value added which they can achieve per active substance across its entire product life cycle is an essential basis for entrepreneurial decisions. This also has an effect on production, which needs to be reliable and flexible but above all more efficient than before.
“We face a fundamental change in the pharmaceutical industry, in which a decisive role will be played by the very best utilization of production technology,” says Olaf J. Müller, CEO at Fette Compacting. “The processing of active substances is an essential step in the value chain of pharmaceutical production. But this is also where the greatest untapped potentials are for improving efficiency. Digital technologies are revealing new possibilities for optimizing all factors equally. Here a new comprehensive insight helps us to determine the contribution that can be be made by production technology. This is exactly what we are putting into practice with our Lifetime Efficiency service. We are not simply optimizing individual aspects but rather the overall performance of the system across the entire production cycle.”
Support during all phases of the production cycle
The central idea of the Lifetime Efficiency offering involves analyzing all the relevant factors for production and optimizing them continuously to reduce overall costs for users and improve productivity. “Lifetime Efficiency means that we not only support our customers in remedying everyday production problems but also systematically work with them to improve value added for production as a whole,” emphasizes Rainer Krugmann, Global Director Sales at Fette Compacting. “This step from problem orientation to potential orientation demands even closer cooperation with our customers. Through comprehensive analysis of the installed machine base and data-supported optimization of plants and processes, our customers can benefit from significantly greater and sometimes unique efficiency potentials.”
This approach can be implemented by the international network of support and service specialists that has been developed and significantly extended by Fette Compacting in recent years. On this subject, Lars Plüschau, Global Director Customer Support at Fette Compacting, says: “We operate five Competence Centers around the world which are linked to each other and in which our customers can carry out product tests and training, for example. We also employ more than 100 experts specializing in tablet production and capsule filling. This combination is unique. With our Lifetime Efficiency service, we bundle these competencies and offer users even more specific support during development, production and modernization across the entire life cycle.”
Apart from machines, process equipment and tableting tools, the Lifetime Efficiency range also comprises general consulting in the area of tablet design and product tests as well as scale-up consulting and performance consulting. Ongoing support in production is based on a wide variety of service and consulting offers which can be customized as required. These include offers for proactive maintenance, optimization and availability of spare parts and handling full maintenance and spare parts management. With training programs coordinated to users’ individual requirements or developed in cooperation with customers, Fette Compacting supports its customers in developing and retaining their employees’ expertise.
Additional fair highlights: new capsule filling machine and solutions for continuous production and containment
The second capsule filling machine offered by Fette Compacting is to celebrate its world premiere at Achema 2018. The FEC20 makes the innovative technology of the FEC40 available for users aiming to produce medium-sized batches of up to 200,000 capsules per hour. Technologically, both machines are based on the same fundamental concept and many components can be used in either machine as required.
Another highlight Fette Compacting is presenting in Frankfurt is an efficient solution for continuous manufacturing of tablets. “The direct pressing line based on the FE series offers customers state-of-the-art tableting technology with a fully integrated software solution for central control of the entire production process,” is how Dr. Marten Klukkert, Head of the Technology Center at Fette Compacting, explains the particular features of the system.
Fette Compacting has also subjected its Containment Guard to further development. This involves a standardized process for exposure measurement which reliably documents the retention rate of containment tableting systems. Since the concept was first presented in 2017, the company has installed a test area at its Competence Center in Schwarzenbek and already carried out numerous measurement series. At Achema 2018, visitors can obtain extensive information on the method and the measured results.
For Olaf J. Müller, the trade fair highlights are examples of the positive development undergone by the company in recent years: “Since presenting the FE55, the first machine in our new generation of tablet presses, in 2011, we have presented a new technical innovation every year. Meanwhile, numerous service innovations have also been added. The positive reactions of our customers are proof that we are right to maintain this innovation speed.”
