Tablet punches manufacturing & refurbish

For pharma industries

THE COMPANY

The potential client is a pharmaceutical and nutritional tablets contract manufacturer, based in the EU and with an annual production exceeding 1,000 million pills. This organization has developed important improvements in tablet production to overcome challenges to provide a perfectly shaped product, without defects.

THE PROBLEM

Achieving optimal surface quality in punches and dies holds great importance, as it prevents various issues that can adversely impact tablet manufacturing. These issues include surface imperfections and tablet breakage, as well as reduced press performance due to increased friction and longer press cycles, leading to lower process reliability and a reduced lifespan of pressing tools.

On the other hand, to identify when polishing of punches is necessary, certain indicators should be considered. These indicators include the presence of burrs or roughness on the punch tip, the punch tip turning black, observed sticking or picking problems during compression, a dull appearance of tablets, a blackened die bore surface, tablet corrosion, and the occurrence of tablet capping. Keeping a keen eye on these scenarios helps ensure the quality and efficiency of tablet production processes.

THE GOAL

The company was looking for a way to improve their production capacity and the quality of its pharmaceutical and nutritional tablets. The customer needed to polish tablet tooling to achieve a higher quality and longer lifecycles, thus reducing the tablet’s press downtime. Quality check of produced tablets was not feasible because of the high volume of production. Though, ensuring quality with a reliable process without the need of spending time in the quality check. Concerning the polishing target, it consisted in mirror surface finishing and a significant roughness reduction to achieve an Ra goal of 0.1 micrometers.

THE SOLUTION

Thanks to an advanced DLyte machine and the DryLyte patented consumable, GPAINNOVA was able to condense a four-step surface finishing process (consisting of manual polishing stations) into a single step, based on an automatic process with dry electrolyte. In addition to significantly reducing time and costs, both in terms of labor and finishing time, the customer was able to achieve the desired surface roughness, standardizing production and achieving biocompatible parts, an essential aspect in the Big Pharma and food sectors.

Additionally, the time savings compared to the previous procedure were significant. With a processing time of only 24 minutes, it was possible to achieve a surface finish for a batch of 48 pieces.

TECHNICAL BENEFITS

01. Geometry and tolerance preservation & homogeneous results across the piece
02. Best-in-class concerning surface roughness (Ra under 0.1 micrometers)
03. Stable results among different batches within the electrolyte lifespan
04. Longer lifespan for treated parts
05. Logo, notch or company name preserved

OPERATIONAL BENEFITS

01. Reduced footprint
02. Time and cost reduction
03. Exposure of workers during process and maintenance
04. Handling and storage of media
05. No need for multistep processes
06. Easy waste management