How to Select Blister Packaging machine for your Application

Blister packaging machine is an integral equipment in the pharmaceutical industry, and it is used to pack the oral form of pharma drug products such as tablets into suitable packaging material. They are specifically designed to suit the individual product requirements. The efficiency and success of blister packaging are dependent on the quality and feasibility of the blister packaging machine, which the organization has acquired for its packaging operation.

Although it seems obvious that a blister packaging machine will produce blister packs, the output of each machine varies from one machine to another, which in turn depends on many factors. One of these factors is the suitability of the machine, i.e. how well the blister packaging machine is suited to produce quality products.

The machine's organization requirements can determine the machine's suitability, and whether the blister packaging machine is suitable to fulfil these requirements. 

What is a Blister Packaging Machine?

A Blister packaging machine is used to pack oral forms of drug products in blister-style packaging shape, formed due to mechanical force and heat energy.

Blister comprises different packaging material combinations of Aluminium and PVC, depending on the packed product. Common combinations are

· ALU – ALU, i.e. upper & lower packaging materials are both Aluminum

· ALU – PVC, i.e., the Upper packaging material is Aluminum, while the lower packaging (containing product) material is PVC.

· PVC – PVC, i.e. upper & lower packaging material both are PVC

The upper packaging material is forming material, while the lower packaging contains the product.

There are different sections, called stations, of the blister packaging machine. These stations are designed to perform specific functions – a combination of these functions forms the entire blister packaging machine.  

Are you selecting a blister machine for your application?

Let's diet's some points that are critical to consider when selecting a blister packaging machine for your applications, and include, but not limited to

· What products do you want to pack?

· What is the output required by the pharma product manufacturer?

· Lab scale or commercial model

· Inspection system for blisters

· Packaging material

· Area available

What products do you want to pack?

The main thing you must know and be clear when selecting blister packaging is what products you want to pack. Because major machine characteristics such as build, output, and functions depend on the product. Critical machine parts such as feeder channels, forming plates or rollers, and sealing stations create the product's specific physical appearance.

Output Capacity

As the products size increases, the machine's output decreases due to the decrease in the machine's speed. Typically sized pharma products require large product parts to build, which reduces their agility and mobility during machine operation.

During different stages of blister formation and packaging, large parts mobility is reduced as the product size increases. Otherwise, the machine cannot handle the motion of these large-sized parts at high speed and become damaged or broken apart.

Even if parts do not break, different stages of blister formation, such as product feeding, sealing, and cutting, will not perform accurately and appropriately, if large sized product is run at high speed

Individual Parts

The construction of individual parts depends on the type and product characteristics. If the product being paced is a tablet, the parts are designed according to the tablet's characteristics, such as oval shapes, oblong or round size. Similarly, tablets have different depths and sizes, affecting product parts such as filling-related parts. The same is the case with the capsules.

If the packed product is a bottle, vial or ampoule, the blister packaging machine completely differs from the tablet or capsule packing machine.

The speed of the bottle, vial or ampoule packing machine is less than that of the tablet or capsule packing machine. 

What is the output required by the pharma product manufacturer?

The output of a blister packing machine is one of the basic things that must be considered before selecting a blister machine for your applications. The total production a single blister machine can produce determines the total productivity and extent to which it can fulfil market demands. When selecting a blister machine, consider its total capacity per hour and during a single production cycle.

Suppose the pharma manufacturer has little and first-time experience, and its product has yet to get traction in the market. In that case, a low-capacity machine can be purchased to gain knowledge and see the results of the product and machine. Additionally, it will help to master different areas of the machine, such as operation, maintenance, and compliance.

If, on the other hand, the pharma manufacturer has a strong market hold and is considering machines to increase market share, the option must be high capacity, as compared to the previous one.

Lab Scale or Commercial Scale

Another way of categorizing blister machines is the Lab scale or Commercial scale. The blister packaging machines commonly used in production departments are called commercial scale, while those used in the R&D department are called lab scale.

The R&D department in a pharmaceutical organization is vital for conducting pharma product research for various purposes, such as determining any fault in a product at different stages & removing them, and discovering new formulations or drug products.

They require production resources to replicate the actual production environment, which often becomes difficult for reasons such as disturbance in routine production operations and unavailability of production resources. Since their batch is usually in small quantities, the entire production remains idle until this small batch has been packed.

To overcome these and other hurdles, they buy their machine to make it easier for the R&D department to perform their functions. These blister machines are called lab-scale or Small-scale blister Packaging machines.

The lab-scale blister packaging machine functions on the same scale as the commercial scale. However, they are much smaller in size, capacity and dimensions.

Their parts, such as feeding, sealing, and cutting stations, are typically designed to handle smaller tablets, (sometimes one) tablet at a time, which reduces their total capacity. They are much smaller and can easily fit in a lab environment. They also consume less utilities such as compressed air. The dimension of a blister produced is also different from normal production blister packs.

Commercial scales are normal blister-packing machines. They produce more blisters/minute, consume more power and have large utility requirements.  

Inspection system for blisters

The inspection system for the blister packaging machine is an automated software-based system to inspect individual blister for any faults, defects and other major & minor anomalies. After detecting and categorizing, the particular blister is rejected in a channel other than the good blisters.

It consists of a camera mounted so that it faces tablets filled into the foil (before being cut). The machine operator specifies various characteristics of an accepted tablet based on which each blister is inspected. If the blister below the camera fulfils the criteria of a satisfactory blister, it is assumed. Otherwise, it is rejected.

The inspection system prevents defected tablets from entering the market and reduces market recall. Especially at high speeds when it is impossible to detect with the naked eye, an inspection system helps a lot.

Inspection system adds to the cost and increases the overall price of the blister packing machine.

When considering a blister machine, think about whether your budget allows it. Does your market footprint is large enough? Is manual checking enough to prevent defects in the product or product recall? 

Packaging material

Commonly, the pharma industry uses two types of packaging material to pack their products: Aluminum and PVC. They are used in the combination of ALU–ALU and ALU-PVC.

The forming and sealing foil for the ALU-ALU machine is made of aluminium. The aluminium-forming foil is made by forcing it against a die, which changes the appearance of the aluminium foil in the shape of the product to be filled. After filing, it is sealed to form the blister. In ALU-PVC, the PVC is the forming foil, first heated, then shaped according to the appropriate blister, and then sealed to form a blister.

In both cases, PVC requires a heater to heat the PVC, whereas Aluminum foil only requires force to form the shape. A machine designed only for ALU –ALU cannot be used for ALU-PVC, and vice versa. So, it is necessary to determine the packaging material requirement of your product. 

Area available

A blister packaging machine is a large mechanical structure containing many small and individual electromechanical components. Depending on the machine and application, it can also contain small to medium-sized conveyor belts. These components increase the volume of the overall blister packaging machine.

When selecting a machine, always consider your area availability and to what extent you can increase it depending on the machine's requirement. Also, consider the available area for personnel movement, material placement, transfer, utility connection and other requirements.

It is best to communicate area availability (among other availabilities) during the early stages of discussions to help the machine manufacturer offer a suitable machine. 

Departmental Requirements

Other departments in a pharma organization have their specific requirement, which can only be described on a case-to-case basis. It is best to consult

· Engineering department for handling machine operation, installation, and maintenance-related issues.

· Quality department to consult for regulatory body regulations

About the Author:

Muhammad Asim Niazi

Muhammad Asim Niazi has a vast experience of about 11 years in a Pharmaceutical company. During his tenure he worked in their different departments and had been part of many initiatives within the company. He now uses his experience and skill to write interested content for audiences at PharmaSources.com.