Optimizing Capsule and Tablet Formulation with Automation and Design of Experiments (DoE)
Syntegon, a global leader in pharmaceutical process and packaging technology, highlights its innovative Automated Process Development (APD) solution, designed to streamline and enhance pharmaceutical manufacturing processes. This state-of-the-art system combines automation with statistical trial planning, or Design of Experiments (DoE), to significantly reduce the time and resources needed for both new product formulations and optimization of existing processes.
The APD system, which has already proven itself as a powerful tool in the industry, enables rapid testing and optimization through its integration with Syntegon’s GKF capsule filling and TPR tablet compression machines. With the ability to conduct up to 50 trials in under two hours, APD minimizes product consumption while providing a highly efficient method for screening critical process parameters. This combination of automated execution and systematic planning offers pharmaceutical manufacturers a faster path to market and ensures optimal product quality.
The APD system automates many aspects of the trial process, offering fast and comprehensive analysis of critical material attributes and their interaction with process parameters. This real-time data collection, coupled with the ability to automatically adjust machine settings, reduces the need for operator intervention and lowers the risk of human error. For capsule filling, the APD system on the GKF 720 machine includes five automated and individually controlled tamping pin blocks, which provide precise control over dosing parameters, improving accuracy. Similarly, the APD feeder technology for tablet compression allows manufacturers to find the optimal feeder design as paddle quantity, shape and rotational direction with a novel automated configuration, ensuring that tablet quality attributes are optimized.
In addition to reducing product consumption, APD optimizes output, quality, and process robustness. Combining statistical trial planning with automated customization and monitoring achieves the desired results, saving time and resources. This not only leads to faster, more efficient development processes but also ensures that production is scalable and adaptable to varying inputs, such as batch variability or material characteristics.
Syntegon’s Pharma Services team also offers the APD solution as a service at its OSD Customer Center in Waiblingen, Germany. This service enables manufacturers to benefit from APD’s sophisticated capabilities without the need for significant capital investment. Whether clients are developing new formulations or optimizing existing ones, the APD service provides a comprehensive approach to process optimization, ensuring a leaner development cycle and improved commercial production outcomes.
With over 50 years of experience, Syntegon continues to drive innovation in pharmaceutical manufacturing, offering solutions that meet the evolving needs of the industry.
For more information about Syntegon’s Automated Process Development, please visit: https://www.syntegon.com/press/apd-tool-identifies-optimal-process-parameters-for-tablet-presses
About Syntegon
Processing and packaging for a better life – this is what 6,300 Syntegon employees work for every day. Be it with individual machines, systems, or services, Syntegon helps its customers in the global pharmaceutical and food industries to improve people’s lives. The company, which is headquartered in Waiblingen, Germany, looks back on more than 160 years of experience and achieved annual sales of 1.5 billion EUR in 2023. In the pharma sector, the company’s intelligent solutions enable the safe and high-quality production, processing, filling, inspection, and packaging of liquid and solid pharmaceuticals. In the food industry, Syntegon’s flexible and reliable technologies produce and pack confectionery as well as dry and frozen comestibles.
With 1,200 service experts and a comprehensive service portfolio throughout the entire machine lifecycle from spare parts management to digital line optimization, Syntegon lays the foundation for smooth production processes for all customers. 39 sites in almost 17 countries keep a firm eye on Syntegon’s impact on the environment and society. Syntegon is a leader in the development of sustainable packaging solutions, reduces the energy consumption of its machines and pursues ambitiousgoals to lower its emissions.
