The installation of a FormWeigh recipe system from Mettler Toledo has given safety and accuracy assurances to health products manufacturer Novartis Consumer Health
The system has been installed at the Swiss company's plant in Somercotes, Derbyshire, where a number of household name health products are manufactured, including Savlon, Otrivine, Eurax and Lypsyl.
Designed to weigh out complex formulations in a wide range of quantities, the Mettler Toledo FormWeigh system used by Novartis is PC based, greatly enhancing its versatility. Production technologist Michael Bagan explains: "We previously used a stand-alone system which had few options and very limited memory for storing formulations.
Being PC based, the Formweigh gives us virtually limitless options.
"It is also a much safer process, since there is a greatly reduced potential for error, and it is much faster.
We previously had to do a lot of manual calculations and recording.
Now, with all of the relevant information stored on the system, it is simply a matter of operators following the step-by-step instructions.
Varying active ingredients are not a problem since the system automatically adjusts the quantities required" Supplied with two weighing platforms, capable between them of handling a weight range from 1g to 1 tonne, and a label printer, the FormWeigh, which is a validated system, is used for measuring out the ingredients for every product manufactured at the Somercotes plant.
With around 35 products and three to four batches a day, the system is used to weigh quantities varying from a few grammes to several hundred kilos.
Michael Bagan describes operation of the Formweigh system as "virtually foolproof".
He says: "The system display prompts the operator through each step of the process.
The whole process is very simple and reliable and has given us greatly improved batch documentation and traceability." Mettler Toledo's FormWeigh is supported by Windows 98/NT and can handle a virtually limitless number of formulae and components with the maximum number of materials only limited by the hard/software used.
Formulae can be weighed out horizontally, vertically or in batches and customer-specific configuration enables it to be easily integrated into production processes.
