The All-In-One concept in action

Turning synergies into success

Synergies are what motivate the famous saying that claims the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This is exactly the case of IMA Pharma’s All-In-One concept, where the benefit of a single source expands on the notion of a single supplier.

IMA Pharma is a trustworthy, single source, not only for machines, technologies, contact persons and service offerings, but a single source which stretches from before the machines to long after commissioning; a single source for all the knowledge and experience of the pharma sector which converges to answer the real needs of each customer, as in the case of Huadong Medicine, perfect example of where a synergic approach has led to a true success story.

About Huadong Medicine

Awarded a place in the Top 50 Best Listed Companies in Asia-Pacific by Forbes, Huadong Medicine Co. Ltd. is a large-scale comprehensive pharmaceutical company integrating research and development, production and distribution. In its 30 years in this industry, Huadong Medicine today covers the entire pharma industry chain.

In response to growing market demands, to a need for both efficiency and quality assurance, Huadong Medicine turned to IMA not only for the group’s leading technologies, but also the comprehensive and integrated support IMA was able to provide through each Pharma Division working in full synergy.

Each division is an integral part of the solution

While IMA Active took care of the solid dose processing needs with an array of machines going from granulators to tablet presses and coating pans, IMA Life designed an isolated filling line for lyo products featuring automatic vial loading and unloading systems as well as washing machines and depyrogenation tunnels. IMA Safe brought their vast experience in materials and solutions both for primary and secondary packaging requirements and IMA BFB ensured the end-of-line activities were dealt with in the most suitable and efficient ways possible.

A synergic approach to the customer’s needs saw close interaction between each division, leading to more efficient project management, reducing the costs of the project and enabling a fast track to the solution ultimately delivered and commissioned in December 2022.

An extensive list of the equipment and technologies developed for the customer can be found at the end of the article with links to explore the machines in greater detail.

How a customer benefits from the All-In-One strategy

Customers such as Huadong Medicine in past times would have been obliged to have dealings and sign contracts with an equivalent number of different suppliers. Managing different business relations, different technologies, different schedules with so many different contacts would mean a lot of hard work. Making sure everything fits perfectly involves a significant effort and coordinating the project from preliminary studies to installation is a major challenge.

IMA Pharma alleviates these issues by providing a single source for each step in the process. Envisaging the end of the project is accomplished even at the start, because the people working on the project work together in the same company.

Integration between one solution and another is consolidated, which ensures the process runs smoothly from start to finish, once production starts at the customer’s facilities.

Improvements to the line will be possible at any time because every part of IMA is constantly improving its technologies in synergy with another of its divisions.

All-In-One is a promise of efficiency: one investment, one contract, one relationship based on trust that ensures the customer benefits from the real value IMA offers as a long-term partner to the world’s pharmaceutical industry.

The following is a list of the installed IMA Pharma solutions

IMA Active

2 granulation lines of 900 litres each, equipped with a ROTO MIX 900 high shear mixer, an ARIA 900 fluid bed processor and IMILL dry and wet calibrator.

1 granulation line of 600 litres, working with organic solvents including a ROTO MIX 600, ARIA 600 fluid bed processor and IMILL dry and wet calibrator.

3 CYCLOPS MAXI bin blenders, positioned inside the related granulation room, each of which able to blend 2000-litre bins.

5 double sided PREXIMA 800 tablets presses with interchangeable turret. One of the PREXIMA 800 presses is equipped to produce double-layer tablets.  

1 PERFIMA 800 coating pan, able to coat variable batch sizes from 240 to 950 litres of tablets.

1 ATLANTIS bin washer equipped with rotating platform and air jet stream reducing the drying time.

IMA Life

1 HYDRA 1500-21-A linear vial washer, complete with automatic feeding of vials from the unpacking room, ensuring removal of at least 3 log of particulate contamination.

1 BLUE GALAXY 1250/FL depyrogenating tunnel with dry heat for cooling zone.

1 XTREMA AM aseptic filling and stoppering solution with intermittent motion, handling 400 vpm and ensuring 100% IPC and single reject capability. Includes filling circuit with 8 volumetric pumps suitable for CIP-SIP skid and automatic filling needle insertion in CIP-SIP drain manifold. Link: 

3 CLU compact high-speed vial loading and unloading systems with double-row outfeed.

3 LYOFAST 40 double-storey 40 sqm. freeze dryers.  

1 ALU 600/12C capping machine with 12 capping heads and tilting unit for manual alucap loading system and open RABS. 

ISOLATOR SYSTEM designed to cover the complete liquid and lyo filling line, and to house aseptic processes with NON potent/active products. Includes PMS (Particle Monitoring System), Glove Leak Tester and full dedicated HVAC system. 

1 Full SCADA HMI supervision system for the complete line with HMI application based on GE iFIX platform and Historian.21CFR part 11 compliant.

IMA Safe

1 SWIFTPHARM 2-8bottle filling solution with 8 counting heads, capable of monitoring product precision at high speeds thanks to EFS (electrostatic field sensor) technology. 

1 DYNAMICA high-speed continuous motion horizontal cartoning machine.

1 C80HSA three-row stand-alone blister machine set up for ALU-ALU blister packaging equipped with an IMA roller feeder to positively lead the product into the single pocket, avoiding production stoppages.