Lu Rahman speaks to Marcus Behrens, Bosch Packaging Technology, to find out what the company has recently been working on
With headquarters near Stuttgart, Germany, Bosch Packaging Technology operates in 30 locations across the globe offering process and packaging technology.
One of the company’s divisions is based in Knowsley, UK. For 90 years, Manesty has been supplying tablet presses and coaters to the global pharmaceutical and process industry. Today the brand operates under the Bosch Packaging Technology name and together with Hüttlin, this completes Bosch’s process technology portfolio for solid pharmaceuticals.
Around 120 employees develop tailor-made solutions at the site in Knowsley. All Manesty tablet presses and coaters have been designed to offer transferable parameters, easy scale-up and flexible batch changeovers – from laboratory to production scale. They are manufactured to meet the rising market requirements for flexibility, efficiency and reduced life-cycle costs
The company is keen to continually offer innovative products and the TPR range has been developed specifically with the customer in mind.
According to Bosch Packaging Technology general manager, Marcus Behrens, these machines now offer higher yields with a more flexible design.
Behrens says that this range is what pharmaceutical manufacturers have been waiting for. Last year the company released the TPR 500 on to the market - this year the TPR 200 for small to medium size batches and the TPR 700 for high production volumes have also been added to the range.
“The TPR 500 can produce 400,000 tablets an hour using standard tooling and a small footprint,” says Behrens. The machine has been designed to be suited for multiple unit pellet systems without the need for any extra equipment.
“These machines come with an integrated die option, modular powder feeding system and an easy-to-operate Human Machine Interface (HMI), which is what pharmaceutical manufacturer have told us they need,” says Behrens.
The TPR 200 is designed for small to medium batches with outputs of up to 230,000 tablets per hour. One of its key features is its hygienic and easy to clean design as well as a compact footprint. A modular data acquisition system means that tabletting formulations can be developed and evaluated. It also comes with options for R&D configuration, containment applications and bi-layer tablets.
The TPR 700 is the largest tablet press of the series.
“This machine is capable of producing more than one million tablets an hour,” boasts Behrens. “As well as pharmaceutical products, it can be used for products such as vitamins and because it has been ergonomically designed, the production and technical areas of the tablet press are easily accessible.”
A two-level production zone means production and technical areas are kept separate even when removing the exchangeable turret.
All three tablet presses have been developed to significantly improve overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) in terms of availability, quality and output. Combined with an exchangeable turret, the patented integrated die plate offers increased flexibility, fast, safe and easy changeover, as well as reduced cleaning times.
“Obviously it depends on the machine model and the type of tablets, but we are seeing output capacities being improved by up to 40%,” explains Behrens.