Jumpstart Manufacturing with Intelligence

Soft-shell capsule

 

With Summer in full swing, we sit at our desks but imagine ourselves elsewhere, basking in the sun. Lots of us have taken vitamin supplements such as vitamin D throughout the year and think now is the time to save it for gloomier times.

Surprisingly, modern research says that areas with plenty of sunshine, but high degrees of humidity and a sultry climate may also experience a prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency. Increased awareness of vitamin D intake would mean that some of us might need to continue to take supplements, even in the summer months.

 

Winning the demand-supply race

Increased awareness means an increase in demand. So, how would manufacturers find the demand-supply equilibrium here? The phrase “give me full power!” comes to mind, but simply trying to ramp up production or investing in more plants is costly in both terms of time and money. Manufacturers are looking to get smarter. By investing in advanced PAT technologies, they can improve their existing processes and introduce greater efficiencies that result in reduced waste, time-to-market, increased yields, and conversion from batch to continuous production.

An evaluation of the physical and chemical properties of Calcium and Vitamin D tablets formulated via wet granulation highlights the relationship between weight variation and the overall efficacy of the tablets, showing us just how important it is to have tight process control and insight. In this study, sieve analysis was used for particle size determination, however, this method has its limitations. The most significant factors being the method’s off-line nature, limited accuracy, and its inability to deliver analysis in real-time.

 

Room for improvement

How could we best implement greater process control? Direct imaging particle analysers, like Eyecon2, let you streamline the hurdles of traditional measurement methods and unlock operational excellence. With the automated sample stage included, Eyecon2 allows at-line and in-line measurement of particles in real-time. So, from a QC lab to a fully automated manufacturing process, Eyecon2 evolves with your needs, not the other way around.

The scope of applications for Eyecon2 is far-reaching due to its capability of non-product contact analysis of wet and dry material while measuring a wide particle size range of 50-5500µm. Many particle size analysers on the market today require additional material-contact probes and accessories to match these specs. With Eyecon2, there’s none needed! Out-of-the-box, Eyecon2 is designed to be versatile and flexible, adapting to your manufacturing environment with unmatched ease-of-use and intuitiveness. 

 

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Claude Lacey

Claude Lacey leads the Innopharma Technology software development team and has worked in software development for over 20 years.  Prior experience includes software development management in the medical device industry where he led the development of digital pathology software applications.  His areas of expertise include cloud architecture, imaging and data driven systems, UX design, agile and lean thinking.  He has a special interest in IoT, machine learning and computer graphics technologies. Claude holds a BSc in Computer Science and PgDip in Pharmaceutical Business and Technology.

Girish Mallya

Girish Mallya is a Senior Software Developer working at Innopharma Technology with 12 years of professional experience developing image analysis solutions and is responsible for the technical aspects of software R&D projects that involve image analysis/computer vision. Apart from image processing and computer vision, he has experience in C++, Python, MATLAB, Machine learning for image analysis.

Volodymyr Rudiakov

Volodymyr Rudiakov is a Senior Software Developer at Innopharma Technology with 8 years of experience of using C++, Python, JavaScript, NodeJS, Java and different technologies for data exchange, storage and processing, IoT devices and systems integration, and process automation. Overall, more than 20 years of networks specialist and systems integrator experience.

Eyecon₂ Direct Imaging Particle Analyser 

Uses direct imaging processed in real-time, with ellipses fitted to each particles boundary, shape and size reported back, highlighting variations

 

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