Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/992039
D scaling up MINIMIZING TABLET PRODUCTION CHALLENGES WHILE STILL IN R&D BY DALE NATOLI, PRESIDENT AND KEVIN QUEENSEN, TECHNICAL SERVICE SUPPORT NATOLI ENGINEERING COMPANY uring the research and de- velopment process scientists typically use a small-scale press to study their product's tabletability, including col- lecting data on how the for- mulation behaves in relation to variations in compression force and dwell time. ese factors affect the final thick- ness, density, and hardness (tensile strength) of the tablet and thus help determine the ideal compression profile for a tablet. However, mechanical and operational differences between an R&D press and a production press mean that transferring a product during scale-up to manufacturing is not always successful. Among the differences between R&D and production presses are turret size, turret pitch circle diameter (PCD), and turret velocity, all of which affect dwell time and ultimately can contribute to changes in compression conditions during scale-up. Generally, R&D presses are 10 to 16 sta- tions, and a production press ranges from 30 to 100 sta- tions, which is a significant variation in PCD and effective length of the feeder aperture. Developing a robust solid dose formulation that can be scaled up for manufacturing without encountering tableting issues is an ongoing challenge. Read more to discover Natoli Engineering's solution to this issue: their innovative Quick-Release™ Tooling. Figure 1. Natoli Engineering's Quick-Release™ Tooling