Pharmaceutical Manufacturing: Meeting high demands for life saving products

Alternative Engineering’s container handling innovation protects precious vials containing influenza vaccine, supporting the timely delivery in one of Australia’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturers

For a large pharmaceutical company, high-quality engineering outcomes and fast response times are of the utmost importance.

Delays or breakdowns in the production process not only mean the potential loss of critical and expensive product but potentially thousands of dollars in lost productivity per hour. Any pharmaceutical manufacturer needs to uphold a strong commitment to research and development, reliability, safety, and quality. Breakages, in particular, can impact both reliability and safety within the workplace and any potential for breakage is quickly resolved.

In such a case, one production process was experiencing an intermittent but recurring issue with vial breakage causing production stoppages with several hours needed to meticulously clear the line from the breakage while maintaining a sterile environment. Resolving the cause of the problem, however, was not straightforward. Alternative Engineering was subsequently invited to consult and design a solution to this complex issue.

Alternative Engineering were required to develop a permanent solution that would not require additional rework or repair, or simply reduce the problem. A total and complete resolution was required to eliminate the issue altogether.

Alternative Engineering was contacted to redesign and remanufacture the process to seamlessly transfer the vials, with zero breakages. The outcome of Alternative Engineering’s innovative design was a success.

Timing scrolls and start wheels manufactured by Alternative Engineering 

Alternative Engineering recreates new scroll technology that enables smoother and faster vial transfer.

A combination of technical expertise and lateral thinking enabled Alternative Engineering to eliminate breakages on vial size 2215 by creating a scroll that not only enabled a seamless production process but resolved the recurring issue of vial breakage.

“I am pleased to inform you that the new 2215 size scroll Alternative Engineering redesigned and manufactured appears to be operating quite well. Since installing it we have not experienced any of the vial breakages that were previously affecting production. The vial transfer appears to be much smoother through the scroll allowing us to increase the speed of the scroll while still maintaining smooth vial transfer.”

– Maintenance Support Engineer, Pharmaceutical manufacturing.

The importance of innovation and reliability in sterile production environments

In a sterile, high output production environment like Pharmaceutical manufacturing, production process issues like glass vial breakages can cause a large impact on the continuity of production and on lost product – both financially and in market supply.

The nature of the pharmaceutical manufacturing environment demands a service provider who can respond immediately to requests, resolve complex technical issues and provide effective and compliant innovative solutions that are documented, transparent and adhere to best practice engineering standards.

Response times are critical. In up to 25 percent of cases, requests for support may be urgent and there is little or no time that can be wasted.

Alternative Engineering’s high quality and innovative engineering outcomes, together with their strong focus on reliability, responsiveness and customer relationships provide pharmaceutical companies with the solutions they need to ensure life-saving products are produced and delivered to market on time.

Alternative Engineering: Expertise and service you can rely on

Alternative Engineering is a leading Melbourne based engineering and manufacturing company that specialises in high-capacity production environments with particular expertise in the Pharmaceutical and Food & Beverage sector. With an impressive and growing client list, Alternative Engineering has built a reputation for exceptional customer service, technical expertise, reliability and quality engineering outcomes.