Pharmaceutical company purchases second Courtoy tablet press

In 2004, a Courtoy MODUL S high-speed tablet press was installed at a well-known generic pharmaceutical company in Africa.

Having recognised its effectiveness - its 'tablet weight stability' allows the turret to run at very high speed, consistently over 285,000 tablets per hour, or an 'effective capacity /nominal capacity' ratio of 86% - and with the current speed of new product introductions, as well as increased production demand, the company has pur-chased a second press.

The lowest 'cost-per-tablet' is the bottom line in the production of generics; high output and fast change-over are also of major importance. The company achieves fast change-over thanks to the 'ECM' concept of the MODUL S working in combination with a 'through-the-wall' installation. The press itself is installed in its own cubicle, while the tablets run through a wall separating the press room from a small room with deduster, metal checker and tablet receiving containers. The 'ECM' avoids the release of dust in the press room.

Once the batch is finished, the 'ECM' is exchanged for a clean version; the auxiliaries in the small adjacent room are removed; the room is cleaned and clean auxiliaries are installed. In combination with IBC-powder feeding technology, a 'through-the-wall' MODUL S tablet press installation is capable of pro-ducing a new tablet formulation within two hours of finishing the previous one.