Thursday, October 6, 2016

Why There Is A Need For Standardized Table Punches And Dies

By Elizabeth Cooper


From syrups to capsules and tablets, pharmaceutical products can take many forms. Making these products also undergo different processes. Nonetheless, these processes have a standards and regulations to follow. The technology used to manufacture these products are also vary. These differences, however minor are still critical.

Tableting has been a method widely used by many drug companies and even confectionery companies. It took quite a while to standardize this process but by mid 2000 There was an ISO certificate issued to the usage of tablet punches and dies for pharmaceuticals. The Eurostandard and others became widespread methods with standardized procedures. These have benefits that can vary from a proper production flow to cutting manufacturing costs.

The varying procedures that involve tableting calls for standardization. The different standards that are used for this making tablets make usage and purchase of punches and dies a bit more costly for manufacturers. This restricts the procedures from being interchangeable even with almost similar functions and parts.

Having a global standard for these tablet presses means that the punches and dies may be interchangeable. This saves so many things for the manufacturing companies. One it makes production of the machine parts faster, thus making manufacturing of these tablets in different sites faster, since there are no special specifications of varying standards to follow.

The time spent on making the tablets are also cut. This makes it easier for suppliers to adhere to the high demand of the medicines. The machines are programmed and designed to remain accurate without compromising speed and efficiency. The delivery of the merchandise become faster, as a result.

Maintenance, procurement and operation for these machines become easier throughout the industry. The guidelines that are involved in operating the machinery will become more common as pharmaceutical companies start adapting them. Other regulatory procedures like inspections and compliance will be easier to adhere to, lessening the chances of failure during the actual reviews as compared to using varying standards.

Technical information about the equipment is easier to acquire without having to switch from one form of tooling to another. Troubleshooting for problems become easier with only one method used for the whole industry. To think that the difference are very minor and mainly resides in the structure of the die bores, punch tips and the clearance around that small area.

There are still differences per machine depending on the manufacturers. While these may seem like very small variations, they still have an impact in the final product. The varying shapes of different tablet presses, between the Eurostandard and TSM make their interchangeability a restriction. By maintaining an protocol, there becomes a compatibility of all tablet presses and this eventually reduces costs for manufacturers.

Tablet press manufacturers always innovate and these new methods shape standards. Having a uniformity in the tooling of making tablets, eliminates the need to spend for another set of punches and dies just to comply with whatever standardization the manufacturing site is following. There is interest among all concerned in the pharmaceutical industry, still standardization will take a while to catch on with whatever methods are being used now.




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