Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Equipment: Types and Uses

Pharmaceutical companies often allocate large budgets for pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment procurement for raw material processing and product packaging when setting up new facilities. These machines directly affect the facility’s output and the company’s profit. However, ‘equipment’ is too general a term for all the machines used during manufacturing. In this blog, we discuss the different types of equipment in pharmaceutical manufacturing and their essential roles in manufacturing.

Types of equipment in pharmaceutical manufacturing

Pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment is generally divided into various categories, as follows:

1. Raw material processing equipment

Raw material processing equipment is used to prepare raw materials for actual processing. It includes mills (to crush raw materials into desired sizes), mixers, and blenders.

2. Granulation equipment

Granulation equipment is used to crush powders into nano-sized particles. Granulators are divided into dry and wet granulators.

3. Heating and cooling equipment

These devices heat, boil, melt, cool, freeze, or condense materials. This category includes various types of equipment such as heaters, boilers, freeze-driers, condensers, furnaces, and evaporators.

4. Sterilisation equipment

Headers, autoclaves and sterilisers are used to sterilise raw materials or other formulations. Additional sterilisation equipment is also required for laboratory equipment, like test tubes, flasks, beakers and pipettes.

5. Quality control equipment

There are various types of quality control equipment. It includes particle size analysers, purity analysers, colour analysers, dissolution testers, spectrometers, and pH meters.

6. Tablet and capsule manufacturing equipment

Specialised equipment is required to press the prepared formulation into tablets or fill it into capsules. Pharmaceutical companies need to invest in tablet presses and automatic capsule fillers.

7. Packaging equipment

Specialised equipment is required to package tablets, capsules, and pills in blister packs. Bottle-filling machines are needed to fill liquid formulations, tablets, capsules, drugs, etc., in the respective bottles. Furthermore, cartoning machines are also required to make cartons of these packed blisters and bottles.

8. Cleaning equipment

Cleaning equipment is also required to clean other equipment regularly. Cleaning equipment also includes water purification systems, air purification systems, and ventilation systems.

Considering the various types of equipment involved in pharmaceutical manufacturing, it is understandably challenging to find the right equipment for different applications. Here are some tips for equipment selection and maintenance.

Three tips for equipment selection

a. Evaluate equipment quality and reliability

Select equipment from reputed manufacturers that are known for quality and reliability. Evaluate the precision, accuracy, speed, and efficiency when choosing the equipment. Ensure the equipment has an excellent scale-up and down range to handle future production requirements. It is also necessary to evaluate their technical support services because technical issues can bring manufacturing to a halt.

b. Understand maintenance requirements

Evaluate the frequency and ease of maintenance of pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment. While the FDA does not have specific guidelines for equipment selection, it does have specific guidelines for cleaning and maintenance. Therefore, select equipment that will ensure your compliance with the guidelines.

c. Check compatibility and integration

When purchasing pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment, evaluating whether the equipment is compatible with existing systems and processes is necessary. The equipment should be easily integrated with automated systems.

d. Consider future needs

While evaluating the equipment's flexibility, consider whether the equipment can be integrated into other systems. For example, can the equipment be integrated into other processes if you opt to close the manufacturing of one formulation? Alternatively, if you wish to increase your production efficiency, can you purchase attachments or other integrations into your existing equipment to meet this demand?

Emerging equipment technologies

When choosing manufacturing equipment, it is also necessary to consider emerging equipment technologies. Here are some emerging equipment technologies in the pharmaceutical space.

1. 3D printing manufacturing

The FDA lists 3D printing manufacturing as one of the emerging technologies for small molecules. According to experts, 3D printing is the gateway to personalised medicine because it allows precise layering of pharmaceutical ingredients. This enables the personalisation of doses according to individual patient needs. Companies like Merck, FabRx, Aprecia, GSK, and Triastek have started exploring this technology.

2. Robots in aseptic filling

According to the FDA, robots can be integrated into aseptic processing, which includes formulation manufacturing, filling (in vials, syringes, etc.), inspection, labelling, and packaging. This reduces the chances of human contamination.

3. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)

AI and ML can be integrated into various pharmaceutical manufacturing processes. They can optimise production parameters, predict potential bottlenecks, simulate production processes, forecast demand, predict side effects, determine efficacy, design clinical trials, etc.

4. Smart factories

A new concept in digital transformation in the pharmaceutical sector is intelligent factories. These are factories where all modules are connected, allowing them to share data. For example, Merck has already integrated intelligent factories. Similarly, Pfizer is trying to connect manufacturing plants so they can make data visible on demand.

These new technologies will play a massive role in shaping the pharmaceutical industry's future.

Conclusion

Pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment is the backbone of any pharma company. As highlighted in this article, there are several types of pharmaceutical equipment, all of which play a massive role in the manufacturing process. Therefore, equipment selection and maintenance are essential. When selecting equipment, evaluating current requirements, budget, flexibility, and scalability is necessary. However, even as these factors are considered, one thing should be kept in mind: As new types of equipment are invented, there’s no doubt that each pharmaceutical company will have to upgrade at some point. Therefore, items that fit current demand can be chosen and easily integrated with new technologies during equipment selection.

FAQs

1. Does pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment need to comply with any guidelines?

Pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment must comply with good manufacturing practices enforced by local and international regulatory bodies.

2. How is pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment validated?

Pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment is validated via installation qualification (IQ), operational qualification (OQ) and performance qualification (PQ) processes.

3. What are the consequences of poor cleaning and maintenance of equipment?

Pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment requires regular maintenance to maintain its efficiency. Consequences of inadequate cleaning and maintenance include production delays, equipment malfunction, product contamination, compromised product quality, and regulatory non-compliance.