Chanelle increases its blisterpacking capacity

Irish independent pharmaceutical manufacturing and packaging company Chanelle Medical has increased its capacity with the installation of two further Noack 623 blisterpackers, supplied by Romaco. The new machines are now in operation alongside two existing Noack DPN 760 blister packers at the company's premises in Loughrea, Co Galway.

Chanelle began manufacturing and packing human pharmaceuticals in 1999 and today has a staff of 200, a manufacturing facility of 55 000 sq ft, and approvals from both the Irish Medicines Board and the Medicines Control Agency. Managing director Michael Burke said: 'We now have the capacity to manufacture 900m tablets and 275m capsules per year, a large proportion of which are required in blisters.'

The Noack 623 offers outputs of up to 400 blisters/min and can handle a wide range of substrates, enabling Chanelle to maintain flexibility while also being able to meet demand for larger batch sizes. The new machines are fitted with Laetus Polyphem 1030 inspection systems to ensure that tablets are present, correct and complete. They also feature a pick and place system on the outfeed belt which transfers blisters positively onto the cartoner infeed belt. Chanelle now has the capacity to produce some 250m blisters annually.