Charles Ischi joins forces with Techceuticals in tablet and capsule performance webinar

Zuchwil, Switzerland: Charles Ischi AG – Testing Technology has joined forces with US-based solid dose experts and pharma manufacturing troubleshooting specialists Techceuticals in hosting a free online webinar on Tablet and Capsule Performance.

The webinar is part of an overall series to be held from May 21. The session will furnish tablet development teams with implementable actions for immediate performance improvement by achieving closer integration between operators, technicians, maintenance and quality specialists. Benefits include more effective changeovers, reduced downtimes, and improved operational performance.

CV-19 response

Organised as eight 45-minute sessions, the free webinar series has been devised by Techceuticals CEO Michael D. Tousey as a response to the Covid-19 lockdown, with professionals restricted to working from home able to participate in online events. Each webinar will involve a different Techceuticals partner.

Mr. Tousey says the webinars are aimed at the same diverse audience reached by Techceuticals’ own programs.

“It is an interesting mix of professionals. Some new, some have been around for more years than myself. We have operators and business owners, quality teams, and maintenance and engineering, we have R&D and Technical services. That’s the exciting thing about this business, you are never done learning, regardless of what department you’re in. The day that I stop being challenged, is my last day,” says Mike Tousey.

Vital check points

The Techceuticals/Ischi webinar focuses on priorities in tablet manufacturing processes and the key checks that developers must perform before even starting tablet presses.

Session focus areas include:

• Defining powder performance on a tablet press and understanding the key factors that make the difference in merely processing batches and achieving superior performance
• Tooling and Tablets: what teams need to know about tooling design, inspection, care, and optimum tablet press set-up
• Batch performance: Key reasons why each batch performs differently, including ingredient performance factors and what to do about them to enhance performance
• Ways to granulate and why: key issues on how to ensure the correct granulation for tablet and capsule performance
• Seven key steps to improving product performance: a discussion about the differences that milling ingredients and milling equipment make to tablet and capsule success or failure
• How to solve tablet defects: the overlooked steps like capping, delamination, and black spots (DVD’s dark visual defects) that contribute to success.

Established relationship

Charles Ischi has a well-established ‘Lab Sponsor’ relationship with Techceuticals, providing tablet testing equipment used in the successful series of training day seminars that Techceuticals run at its laboratories in Cleveland Ohio.

“CI has contributed in every way possible. They have provided equipment for a training facility, they participate as speakers and as industry experts. This is a very symbiotic win-win relationship that benefits our customer and providing them with opportunities to work with the best testing equipment in the business,” Mike Tousey explained.

Therefore Charles Ischi was a natural partner to co-host the Tablets and Capsules Session.

“We share an energy that reaches out to our industry. Charles Ischi obviously has a passion for quality. Like us they believe that to contribute is not enough in pharma today, a company like CI must be part of the total solution, always striving to improve and not just meet demand but to be leaders in the field. The fact that CI has contributed and become part of our operation here at Techceuticals is truly an honor,” Mike Tousey declared.

“It is essential to continually to improve by educating and exposing our customers to quality equipment and manufacturing experience, and CI is the perfect partner to exemplify this spirit,” he added.

Ischi plus Techceuticals expertise

The webinar will bring together Charles Ischi Testing Technology’s expertise in testing equipment and processes for tablets and capsules and in-process control solutions with Techceuticals’ specialist knowledge of troubleshooting techniques and solid dose technologies.

All sessions will be led by Techceuticals founder Mike Tousey, capitalizing on his almost 50 years’ experience of manufacturing and packaging processes and technologies, latterly specializing in tablet making and solid dose processing. His Ohio-based company has actively helped many startup companies to install and operate tablet-making machinery and to train employees on the set-up, operation and cleaning of equipment used in processing, manufacturing and packaging.

Raising the bar with advanced testing

Mr. Tousey says the Tablet and Capsules webinar aims to raise the bar in all levels of solid dose manufacturing, with getting the best from advanced testing equipment and techniques as a key focus for the webinars.

“Testing equipment reveals facts and data required to place a metric on quality. Each step in the process of preparing powders for tablet and capsule making and the subsequent results of those efforts make it imperative to demonstrate the value of the right equipment that brings valuable information to us. We want and need to have equipment that exists and we dream about equipment to come. I frequently say that we need more information and data, there are many things that we need to know about compressed materials. More information could give us greater insights and new ways to solve problems more effectively,” said Mike Tousey.

Turning crisis into opportunity

“I believe that we can never stop learning, improving ourselves in this business of making tablets and capsules. I think there are many higher-level seminars and training resources and not enough for the teams on the front line – the people really producing the products we consume,” he reflected.

“I’ve been in this business a very long time, starting out actually making punches and dies and working with pretty much the whole range of equipment and technologies and at almost every level,” said Mike Tousey.

“So I have huge connection with the technicians and production experts whose job it is to set the machines rolling and to turn out perfect products. I understand what intense pressures they are under to keep product moving. And in all those years, I’ve never heard a manager say ‘OK, well today I want you to take a little time to think about what we’re doing and in what ways we can do it better’. Life isn’t like that,” he said.

“But now we have an enforced pause and so it seems to me that this is the perfect opportunity to dig a little deeper and think about all those things that we’re not doing and should be – and the other way round. That’s what these webinars are all about – making an opportunity out of a crisis,” said Mr. Tousey.

About Charles Ischi

Charles Ischi AG – Testing Technology are a Swiss-based specialist manufacturer of testing equipment for tablets and capsules and in-process control solutions for the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industry. Supplying testing equipment, specializing in oral solid dosage testing technology for research, development, quality control and in-process control.

From its headquarters in Zuchwil, in the central Swiss canton of Solothurn in the heart of Europe, the company maintains an international sales and service network for Kraemer Elektronik tablet and capsule testing equipment and Charles Ischi solutions, which include a revolutionary In-Process Control (IPC) turnkey add-on solution that can upgrade in-process control tablet testing procedures in-line to all makes and model of tablet press and capsule filling machinery.

Charles Ischi has grown and developed over more than two decades by maintaining a rigorous focus on driving new technology introduction and customized solution to ensure customer satisfaction, excellent sales advice and after sales service support.

The company’s key strength is a committed sales force providing support through its international sales network, with individual customer care, support for installation and qualification, training, service and repair.

Its product focus is on tablet breaking force testers, multiparameter tablet testing systems, capsule weighing systems, disintegration testers and friability testers.

Further information at: https://www.ischi.com/

About Techceuticals

Based in Cleveland, Ohio, Techceuticals provides training, troubleshooting and equipment to the Pharmaceutical and Dietary Supplements industries.

The company offers a complete service for solid dosage manufacturing companies including equipment selection and complete training programs for the entire manufacturing team.

Techceuticals technical tips, articles and training programs include tablet and capsule formulation assistance, operator training, public training seminars and hands-on training sessions for tablet compression, film coating and granulating.

The company also provides GAP analysis, cGMP training and customized programs for small hands-on groups or a complete manufacturing process presentation for entire companies.

Techceuticals was founded in 1989 as Dorado International by Mike Tousey, who continues to lead the company as its CEO.

Further information at: http://techceuticals.com

Resources

Click on Tablets and Capsules Performance Webinar to register for the event (click on Add to Cart to move to registration page).
Click on Ten Important Checks to see video introduction from Mike Tousey
Click on Solid Dose eTraining to see Module trailers