Following expansion of its solid dose operations, leading USA contract manufacturer, AAA Pharmaceuticals has recently installed customised Insight Pharmaceutical (PH) Metal Detectors from llinois-based contaminant inspection equipment specialist, Loma Systems®.
For over 20 years, AAA Pharmaceuticals has been providing manufacturing, packaging and distribution services for store brand and private label customers and national brands. The company markets a wide variety of over-the-counter (OTC) solid-dosage formulations that are comparable to national brands such as Tylenol® and Advil®.
Produced from polished stainless steel for hygiene and wash down benefits, Loma’s Insight PH Metal Detector’s compact design allows it to be located on virtually any production or packaging line without disrupting the plant layout.
The tablet presses at AAA Pharmaceutical are located in close proximity so Loma set up the frequencies on the metal detectors to avoid interference.
Jeff Biggs from AAA Pharmaceuticals comments: “Although I had experience of Loma metal detectors in another business, the Insight PH Metal Detectors were selected after a rigorous review process by AAA Pharmaceuticals.
Jeff continues: “We conducted an across the board comparison between six metal detector companies and even requested demonstration units so that we could properly assess both functionality and specifications. Loma was the first to respond to our request for a trial machine and it quickly became evident that their Insight PH model rated highly for performance and features.
“With the help of the Loma team, the metal detectors were installed quickly and have proved easy to use, clean and maintain. Our operators particularly like the simple, intuitive user interface.”
Loma has recently enhanced the Insight PH to further improve stability and manoeuvrability, allowing easy integration with tablet presses, de-dusters, polishers and encapsulation equipment commonly used by pharmaceutical and neutraceutical manufacturers.
The system offer full digital processing functionality for conversion of analogue signals to digital processing in the detection head and a voltage measurement read-out allows the customer to properly monitor calibration. It offers industry-leading calibrated detection levels of 0.3mmFE, 0.35mmNFE and 0.5mmSt/St while eliminating false rejects from vibration and product signal. Four password protected security levels are provided for operators, supervisors, engineering and administration.
The system is available with fully documented Installation Qualification (IQ), Operational Qualification (OQ) and Performance Qualification (PQ) validations for compliance with FDA, GAMP and GMP specifications. It is design and construction compliant with 21CFR parts 210 and 211 and certified to NEMA 4X / IP66.
Other key features include Loma’s Direct Digital Signal (DDS), which displays a clear graphical representation of events during the set up process, and 200 product pre-sets and permanent memory stores up to 8000 data events. The Insight PH is also available with 12 different reject options.
“We found the team at Loma extremely responsive and keen to meet our budget and lead time requirements. In our opinion, they set a new benchmark in pharmaceutical metal detector technology plus the overall service has been truly excellent. Based on our experience, we would definitely recommend Loma and its inspection equipment to other pharmaceutical manufacturers,” Jeff concludes.
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