Browsing by Subject "tablettien valmistusprosessi"

Tablets are solid medicinal products that are produced by compressing tablet mass in a tablet press. The reproducible and reliable functionality of the manufacturing process, facilities and equipment used in the manufacturing process of medicinal products must be validated. There must be a marketing authorisation for the sale of medicinal products, and pharmaceutical companies must comply with current legislation, Good Manufacturing Practices, and other binding guidelines. After marketing authorisation, certain changes, such as significant changes related to the manufacturing process or raw materials, must be notified to the competent authority by means of a variation application. Depending on the extent of the change, a revalidation and/or a regulatory approval before implementing the change may be required, which makes manufacturing process modification slow, expensive, and laborious. However, the pressure to enhance pharmaceutical manufacturing processes and reduce costs is prevailing. In this study, Lean Six Sigma methods were applied to enhance the manufacturing process of a tablet product. The study was divided into two parts. In the first part of the study, the objective was to investigate the manufacturing process of a tablet product X and to identify improvement actions that would make the manufacturing process of the tablet product X more efficient by achieving material and time savings. In addition, improvement actions were prioritized based on the benefits achieved by the improvement actions and the difficulty of implementation. The second part of the study was based on the improvement action selected from the first part of the study. The objective of the second part of the study was to investigate the factors influencing the amount of mass loss during tableting and how the amount of mass loss can be influenced. In this study, mass loss during tableting referred to the dusty mass inside the tablet press during tableting, which is removed from the tablet press to the equipment dedusting system. The purpose of the practical experiment conducted in the tablet production, which was part of the second part of the study, was to investigate how the magnitude of the exhaust airflow and fan power of the equipment dedusting system affects the amount of mass loss generated during tableting. Based on the experiment, adjusting the power of the equipment dedusting system can affect the amount of mass loss generated during tableting. However, further studies are needed to ensure that no dusty mass remains in the piping of the dedusting system or in tablet press at low exhaust airflow and fan power values during tableting. If the results are applied to other tablet products, the effect of a different formulation on powder dusting should be considered. Adequate dedusting during tableting is important so that the dusty mass inside the tablet press is removed as intended, facilitating the cleaning of the tablet press after tableting and reducing the risk of cross-contamination and exposure of workers to dust. The conclusion of this study is that Lean Six Sigma methods can be used more extensively to enhance the manufacturing processes of both tablet products and other pharmaceutical dosage forms and to reduce loss generated during the manufacturing process without revalidation or changes to a valid marketing authorisation.