UK-based Glenvale Packaging is now making inroads into Europe with a successful installation for a specialist manufacturing chemist in Slovenia, which is enhancing the efficiency of its capsule filling and bottling operations and enabling it to keep pace with increasing market demand.
Lekarna Ljubljana produces a wide range of products, including tablets, capsules and powders, for sale over the counter through 39 of its own outlets as well as via other pharmacy chains and independent outlets.
A need for production processes to match increased demand led directly to its work with Glenvale Packaging. This has centred on the installation of a Schaefer Technologies capsule filling machine that now operates in conjunction with a MultiPharma CPE 6 electronic counting unit already on site.
The direct result of the investment, says the company, has seen potential bottlenecks between production and filling removed, alongside more efficient use of space and better deployment of staff. Filling work that was previously undertaken by two people in two days can now be carried out by just one staff member in little more than two hours.
‘Prior to the installation, Lekarna had operated with two MultiPharma MC 100 capsule filling installations, which accommodated original demand levels,’ comments Garry Coleman, partner at Glenvale Packaging. ‘While these units are still used by the company for other duties, the new STI 10 unit from Schaefer Technologies is now providing a highly accurate production throughput from a single self-contained, semi-automatic facility, which can operate at a much faster rate.’
This process then links directly with the MultiPharma CPE 6 unit, which loads between 30 and 180 capsules into a container, depending upon product type and volume requirements.
Importantly, the Schaefer STI 10 system, which is operated via a simple, user-friendly control system, requires a footprint of just 3.34m2, meeting a key requirement at the Lekarna site. Up to 420 capsules per operation are rectified, filled and then pneumatically closed via a process that is designed to eliminate the risk of contamination while also allows the operator to change capsule size and fill requirements very quickly when needed.
‘Previously, we could fill up to 2,000 capsules an hour, but this has now increased to approximately 15,000, which fully meets our sales volume requirements,’ says Marko Znidarsic, deputy director of Lekarna Ljubljana. If required, the Schaefer unit can handle up to 25,000 capsules per hour.
Lekarna is initially focusing on the processing of two key products with others then being included in the new process line in due course.
