NJM Packaging has added the Dara SFL syringe filling and plugging machine, an aseptic filling and plugging system for syringes or vials in a nest or tray to its portfolio.
The Lebanon, NH, US-based company can equip the modular Dara SFL with an isolation barrier or restricted access barrier (RAB) and a peristaltic pump or valve-less rotary piston pump. With its servo motion controls and high quality engineering, the machine offers consistently accurate filling and plunger insertion, fast and simple changeovers, low maintenance and the flexibility to easily add new package and tray formats, the company says.
Suitable for pharmaceutical and biotech manufacturers, the compact Dara SFL features entrance and exit pass-boxes where operators load and remove nests or trays of syringes or vials. This aseptic manufacturing system fills and closes up to 35 units a minute if equipped with one filling head and one closing head and up to 80 units a minute with two heads each, based on a 1ml fill, within a footprint only 183cm long and 91cm wide. It accommodates glass and plastic syringes with fill volumes from 0.5 to 20ml and vials with fills volumes from 0.5 to 50ml.
Recipe-driven changeovers can be achieved in less than 10 minutes with no tools required thanks to the five servo motors and Allen-Bradley programmable controller and colour touchscreen. The versatility of the Dara SFL also enables users easily to add new formats to handle a different package type and/or size with a different tray configuration. It can be changed from a one-head system to a two-head system in the field, enabling it to expand as users’ needs grow.
'What sets the Dara SFL apart is its very high quality and affordable price, together with our fast delivery. Compared with competitive aseptic filling machines, which often take 16 months to deliver, we can deliver this Dara system in six months because of its modular design and the agility of our company,' said Tom Kessler, Dara Product Manager at NJM Packaging.
In addition to an isolation barrier or RAB, a peristaltic pump or rotary piston pump, a one-head or two-head system, options include a clean-in-place (CIP) system, a sterilise-in-place (SIP) system and gas flushing.