Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/678483
Tablets & Capsules May 2016 17 Cost-saving examples How much money can you save? Let's say you leak-test 10 packages every half hour. That comes to 160 packages per 8-hour shift, 800 pack- ages per week, and 40,000 packages per year based on a 50-week year. If you have a 10-count blister and each tablet or capsule costs $0.25 each, you'd save $100,000 per year because, regardless of whether the package was good, you didn't throw any products away. The ones in good packages you sell, and the ones in leaky packages you recover. Even if the product is inexpensive, why throw it away? Think of the time spent producing the product and packaging it. That's worth some- thing. Plus, if you're not throwing away packages, you can change your Non-destructive leak detection: Stop sending profits down the drain Brad Feldman Service Industries Some things never change, and it seems many people think detecting leaks in blister packages is one of them. How else to explain the con- tinued use of the blue-dye water bath test? It's been a standard for years and remains the most common way that companies leak-test their products, despite its drawbacks. Plus, there are non-destructive alternatives that have been on the market for a long time and offer sev- eral advantages, including Reliability. Leak detection machines are objective every time. Water bath tests are very subjective, because the results are based on what operators see or think they see. Validation. Non-destructive leak- detection machines from reputable manufacturers offer validation packages that include IQ/OQ documentation. Precision. A number of white papers have shown that leak-detec- tion machines give more accurate results than the water bath test. In fact, customers tell me that some packages that fail in the machine pass the blue-dye test. Cost savings. This is the main reason to use the machines: You keep the good packages instead of throw- ing them away. If it's an expensive product, the return on your invest- ment with a leak-detection machine may be 1 to 2 months. SOPs. Maybe you change it so pack- ages undergo testing every 15 min- utes instead of every 30. By identify- ing an issue right away, you could spare yourself 14 minutes of making imperfect packaging. By not throw- ing away the product, you'll also reduce what you spend on packaging materials and labor. Other benefits There are also environmental con- siderations. Depending on the prod- uct, the water used to test the pack- age can't just go down the drain. Instead, you have to use special fil- ters or pay extra for disposal, which eats into profit. If you cut corners and send the the liquid down a stan- dard drain, you may face regulatory or legal problems. Finally, there's the simplicity. Non- Sepha VisionScan is a non-destructive leak detector with no tooling. It tests blister packs by pulling a vacuum and then using high-resolution cameras that detect how the lidstock reacts.