Page 2015 - Flipbook_SolidDesignSoutheast2020

Almac Pharma Services, with their client partner, invested £2 million adding a new
2
dedicated 5,500ft facility. With an aggressive timeline, the facility was built, equipment
sourced and fully validated within nine months. The new facility incorporates dispensing
and blending suites to accommodate 2.5 tonne batches along with sachet filling and
packaging lines for processing up to 120 million sachets per annum.

With a User Requirement Specification (URS) to detail critical requirements coupled
with a strong Almac Pharma Services' existing relationship with both the Kek-Gardner
team and their Irish Distributor meant that Geoff Sloan had no hesitation in approaching
the company when he had an engineering requirement for the new Blending Suite.

Almac Pharma Services already have Kek-Gardner Sifters, Cone Mills and a Kek-
Gardner Blending System at the Craigavon site and were pleased with the equipments’
performance.

As Geoff Sloan commented “We are committed to meeting our customer’s requirements
and Kek-Gardner were happy to discuss the process. Together we developed the right
solution to meet the specifications and the project deadline”.

Almac Pharma Services concluded that the process would be more efficient and cost
effective if a large blender was used to meet the increased production capacity whilst
ensuring the accuracy of the finished drug product.

Trials at Kek-Gardner’s technology centre confirmed that the equipment would meet the
stringent cGMP standards as detailed in the URS both in terms of throughput and
product quality.

As a result a blending suite comprising a Kek-Gardner 4200 litre working capacity
Double Cone Blender, a 700 litre working capacity Y Cone Blender and a K650CV inline
Vacuum Centrifugal Sifter, tied together by lean phase pneumatic conveying was
installed at Almac Pharma Services.

The process begins with a premix of salts and the active pharmaceutical bulk material,
which is initially sifted in the K650CV Sifter and transferred to the 700 litre working
capacity Y Cone Blender for preliminary blending.

The pre mixed material is then conveyed to the 4200 litre Double cone Blender where it
is blended along with the rest of the active pharmaceutical bulk material. The material is
then discharged into a Matcon bin and transferred to the Mediseal LA 500 / P1600
packing line for processing into finished sachets.