SADE UNITS KEEP BACKLOG AT BAY AT PFIZER

CI Electronics' SADE-P4 tablet weight sorters have been an integral part of international pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer's, sorting process for its successful cholesterol reducing drug, Lipitor.

With 70% of world production coming out of Pfizer's plant at Loughbeg in Ireland, and with one batch the equivalent of 6.6million tablets, the SADE sorters initial priority was to sort and reduce a backlog of Lipitor that had built up.

This has now been successfully sorted, and the robustness of the compression process has been greatly improved through a 6-Sigma 'right first time' project. The SADE units are now primarily used to re-confirm weight compliance with the manufacturing specification.

"We find the SADE-P4 easy to clean and operate," said John O'Connell of Pfizer. "In addition, we like the user-friendly operating, reporting and graphical operator interface."

John O'Connell also praised CI's training, with two teams of Pfizer engineers sent to the company's Salisbury plant for training over the past four years. Technical support, too, he described as "first class". It is CI's policy to send one of their Customer Support Engineers to install the unit and provide operator and engineer training.

CI's SADE-P4 can handle both tablets and capsules, with just one change part needed when switching from one to the other. This is in contrast to other sorters that can only do the job following a lengthy change and use of complex parts.

Having four units at Loughbeg not only gave Pfizer increased sorting capacity initially, but also means they have the benefits of flexibility and can continue sorting if a unit is taken out of use for cleaning or adjustment.

For more information about the SADE SP Series of tablet/capsule weight sorters, please telephone +44 (0) 1722 424100 or e-mail sales@cielec.com

www.cielec.com/sorting.html.

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