Romaco at P-Mec 2007

Leading global supplier of processing and packaging equipment, Romaco, will be exhibiting equipment from three of its pharmaceutical ranges at P-Mec 2007. The Promatic PC 4300 continuous motion cartoner will be making an appearance, alongside the Noack N 921 blister packaging machine. Also on the stand will be the Macofar Micro 18 microdosing machine.

Background

Owned by Robbins & Myers, Romaco constitutes the major platform of its parent's pharma business segment. Robbins & Myers supplies highly engineered application critical equipment and systems to the global pharma, energy and industrial markets. Listed on the New York stock exchange, the company achieved sales in excess of $625 million from FY 2006. Romaco is a leading global supplier of processing and packaging equipment for the pharma, cosmetics and food industries. With headquarters in Karlsruhe, Germany, Romaco employs more than 550 dedicated staff, through a worldwide network of business units and sales and service centres covering over 100 markets.

Products on display

Part of the Promatic PC 4000 line-up, Romaco's most successful cartoning range ever, the PC 4300 horizontal cartoner is designed for the exacting requirements of the pharmaceutical and cosmetics sectors. It features the latest servo drive technology with logic control, which reduces the risk of breakdown and minimises maintenance requirements, delivers easy programmable changeover with micrometric adjustments and is virtually silent in operation. Tailormade feeding systems for products as diverse as blisters, bottles, tubes, jars, sachets, vials and many others make light work of the most complex cartoning tasks. Fast product changeover is assured by digital position indicators, repeatability of settings, the machine's capability to store format parameters and its ergonomic magazines, which facilitate longer running times without operator intervention.

The new Noack N 921 extends the machine's technology leadership still further, with the introduction of servo control for all main movements, 'single panel concept' utilising XML technology and the incorporation of the Noack 'QuickFeed' system of interchangeable feeding units. First introduced on Romaco's flagship T6 integrated blister line, these enhancements are key to delivering improved productivity and performance. Flexible and sophisticated enough to handle the most complex blister packaging applications, the N 921 combines simplicity of design with ease of operation, fast changeover and reliability.

The Romaco Macofar Micro range of intermittent motion microdosing machines uses a volumetric vacuum/pressure dosing system to fill sterile antibiotic powders into round glass vials which are then closed with a rubber stopper. Capable of handling up to 18,000 vials an hour, with a fill range of 50 mg to 1.5 g in a single shot, they feature both balcony and through-wall construction. A positive vial transport system comprising a series of starwheels, which guide vials through the filling, weighing and stoppering stations, ensure that they remain upright and under control at each stage. Sited directly above the dosing disc a hopper, shaped to ensure complete emptying of the product to reduce cleaning times and wastage, features two rows of 12 dosators on the Micro 18 featured at P-Mec, or a single row on the Micro 9.

A compact footprint with a balcony design ensures compliance with the most stringent cGMP criteria. During powder dosing, empty vials pass from the infeed belt to a starwheel, an 'off-line' concept which ensures that the main transport belts remain free of contamination from any powder spills. The same principle is applied to the stoppering station, preventing any particulate contamination being carried downstream. The positive transport system also enables precise identification of each vial, so that an automatic weight control system can calculate gross and tare weights for every vial. Results of the weighing process are relayed to the integral computer for continuous monitoring and automatic adjustment of the dosing volume during operation, to ensure that fill weights remain within specification.

The Macofar Micro machines' 100 percent weight control at low speed is particularly beneficial when filling very expensive or highly active powders. As an alternative, the machine can be supplied with a process net weighing system, which weighs 10 precent of all products and adjusts dosators as required to maintain the specified fill.

Depending on the requirements of the active ingredients Macofar Micro machines can be supplied with a standard safety enclosure with laminar flow or an isolator type enclosure. Experts representing each of Romaco's product ranges being demonstrated at P-Mec will be present in hall 1, stand B2/A.