Catalent invests in automation to improve efficiencies
Upgrades electronic verification at facilities in Philadelphia, US and Schorndorf, Germany
Catalent Pharma Solutions has installed electronic verification systems at its Clinical Supply Services facilities in Philadelphia, PA, US and Schorndorf, Germany as part of an ongoing investment to reduce customer costs and increase service quality.
The firm says the automated scan and assemble system at Philadelphia improves quality and efficiency by eliminating randomised schedules and manual employee checks on the labels of each patient kit.
The system also allows for a more streamlined process to release batch records and eliminates the need to review endless sheets of tables to confirm that each kit was assembled and documented properly.
The system prevents the scanning process from continuing if an employee scans an incorrect item to be assembled into the assigned patient kit. Reports are generated on the number of finished kits assembled and exception documents for each order. Catalent says the system supports large, global phase III clinical trials and is being deployed across all of its packaging sites.
Catalent’s Schorndorf facility uses a label check station (LCS), which verifies labels on a backing tape for errors and discharges defective labels. Errors can be excluded before the actual labelling process starts, and only complete and correct labels are applied on the final product. All printed details of the label are examined in the LCS; in particular the variable data (optical character verification/optical character recognition) and the label code (Pharmacode, Barcode or Datamatrix) are verified, which allows for increased quality assurance.
‘Our continued global investments in the latest technology upgrades in clinical packaging illustrates our commitment to our customers’ needs for new strategies to streamline supply chain management,’ said Frank Lis, vice president and general manager, clinical supply services, Catalent.
