Company Optimizes Capsule Counting Accuracy and Revenue Generation with METTLER TOLEDO Technology

Online, December 15, 2009 (Newswire.com) - METTLER TOLEDO was approached by a leading gelatin capsule manufacturer to optimize its capsule counting system. With extensive expertise in hard gelatin capsules, this customer also offers a range of soft gel capsules in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and colors that are suitable for oral, topical or ophthalmic administration. Manufacturing such products requires cutting-edge production facilities and strict adherence to quality standards.

METTLER TOLEDO was selected by the customer's engineering department to design the pilot capsule bag filling solution due to its expertise in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food additive industries. The result was the successful development of a system using a high-speed terminal and digital scale platforms.

Innovation at the heart of the manufacturing process

Previously, METTLER TOLEDO supplied this company's production site with innovative weighing technology that led to significant benefits. The solution included weigh booths containing weigh scales connected to an IND690 terminal for the weighing of active ingredients and excipients for capsule formulation. Each booth contains three different sized scales to allow for the dispensing of small, medium or large volumes. Additionally, each IND690 terminal is connected to a bar code reader to ensure the correct ingredients are used as well as to a label maker to print labels for the finished weighed material. METTLER TOLEDO's solution allowed this company to achieve a noteworthy improvement in weighing precision.

Quick and reliable capsule counting

For the new capsule bag filling project, METTLER TOLEDO proposed a WM weighing module installed directly under the hopper receiving the capsules. Designed for repetitive industrial operations requiring maximum precision, WM weighing modules are ideal for the customer's complex application.

With the METTLER TOLEDO system, sampling is carried out on 100 or 200 capsules to obtain a reference weight and the target weight, and permissible deviation data are entered into the PLC. The system automatically closes the hopper when the target number of capsules to be bagged is reached to ensure accuracy. METTLER TOLEDO's WM system delivers 100 percent satisfaction in terms of capsule counting precision.

With METTLER TOLEDO's system in place, this customer is now able to accurately bill customers based on the number of capsules supplied, optimizing revenue. METTLER TOLEDO is continuing to work with this company to develop new solutions for productivity and quality gains. Future projects include the installation of several production lines integrating the new counting system and an automatic bagging system.