Drug manufacturing (also called the pharmaceutical industry) is a heavily regulated industry given the delicate nature of products that are produced in laboratories for human consumption. Aside from strict inspections on production, packaging and labeling, and laboratory conducted by agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), there is also a particularly hands-on focus on best practices and specific manufacturing instruments and facilities.
If you own or manage a pharmaceutical business, it’s critical to invest in the right drug manufacturing instruments and facilities to meet and maintain the high standards of safety, quality, and productivity.
Here are ten of the best instruments that you should get for your drug manufacturing operations:
1. Dissolution equipment.
When it comes to pharmaceutical operations, dissolution instruments are among the non-negotiable items to have. These pieces of equipment are needed to facilitate effective, accurate, and quick dissolution monitoring, analysis, and testing. There are reliable dissolution products such as Pion instruments that you can invest in to make your entire dissolution process adhere to world-class standards so you can streamline your drug manufacturing processes for optimum productivity without sacrificing safety.
2. Agitators.
These instruments are used to stir different liquids, increase cooling transfer or wheat, and induce chemical reactions. Agitators are an essential instrument in pharmaceutical processing so make sure you get several of them depending on your scale of operations.
3. Centrifuges.
Centrifuges are critical in separating liquids that have varying densities, as well as in separating solids and liquids. Without them, it would be practically impossible to produce high-quality drugs.
4. Granulators and dryers.
These pharmaceutical manufacturing instruments are used to turn liquid preparations into granular or powder form to be transformed into capsules or tablets.
5. Tablet and capsule printers.
Tablet and capsule printers are needed on almost every imaginable capsule and tablet drug products since they are used to print critical information such as dosage and drug name.
6. Metal detectors.
It’s important to invest in several metal detectors to ensure that no tramp metals such as screws and metal fragments make it to the products that will be delivered to consumers.
7. Packaging equipment.
You should allocate a big part of your operating budget to buy packaging equipment such as blister packers, cartoners, and labeling equipment. Proper product labeling and packaging are required by existing government regulations so investing in these pieces of equipment is necessary.
8. Inspection machines.
These instruments allow for easy and efficient visual inspections of drug products as they move along the production line. They go hand in hand with metal detectors in ensuring that no foreign objects get into the finished drugs.
9. High-pressure homogenizer.
This specific instrument is considered the most efficient tool in fluid processing, particularly in terms of cell lysis and reducing particle size.
10. Tanks.
Practically every drug manufacturing operation uses a wide range of tanks to store the liquids that are used to create different drugs or pharmaceutical products. Thus, be sure to get several of them based on your actual and projected manufacturing requirements.
With these instruments in your facility, your drug manufacturing processes should be safer, more efficient, and highly productive.