Mettler Toledo Improves Capsule Filling With Weighing Technology

Mettler Toledo (Mettler) has reported that it was approached by a major gelatin capsule manufacturer to optimise its capsule counting system. The company was selected by its customer’s engineering department to design the pilot capsule bag filling solution, resulting in the development of a system using a high-speed terminal and digital scale platforms.

Mettler claims that it previously supplied this company’s production site with weighing technology that led to significant benefits. The solution included weigh booths containing weigh scales connected to an IND690 terminal for the weighing of active ingredients and excipients for capsule formulation. Each booth contains three different sized scales to allow for the dispensing of small, medium or large volumes.

Additionally, each IND690 terminal is connected to a bar code reader to ensure the correct ingredients are used as well as to a label maker to print labels for the finished weighed material. Mettler Toledo’s solution allowed this company to achieve a noteworthy improvement in weighing precision, said the company.

For the new capsule bag filling project, Mettler Toledo proposed a WM weighing module installed directly under the hopper receiving the capsules. With this system, sampling is carried out on 100 or 200 capsules to obtain a reference weight and the target weight, and permissible deviation data are entered into the PLC. The system automatically closes the hopper when the target number of capsules to be bagged is reached to ensure accuracy.

The company claims that with that system in place, this customer is now able to accurately bill customers based on the number of capsules supplied, optimizing revenue.