GEA Lyophil will exhibit its state of the art ALUS® (Automatic Loading and
Unloading System) on the GEA Pharma Systems stand at ACHEMA 2009.
ALUS® is not new but is something of an unsung hero in the world of
pharmaceutical processing. Since GEA Lyophil was the first company to
manufacture the system more than 20 years ago, ALUS® has made a huge
contribution to a safer and more productive operation of freeze dryers.
Operator and product protection
Over the years GEA
Lyophil has introduced significant innovations both to the
permanently-installed and free-moveable transfer cart systems. For example, in
1997 the company was the first to bring a complete system consisting of freeze
dryer, ALUS® and isolators into production. GEA Lyophil recognized the industry’
s needs for contamination prevention and operator protection allowing
manufacturers to keep contamination out of the product and protect the operator
from potentially harmful substances by removing the operator from the
processing area.
Smooth load / unload with minimal operator
monitoring
GEA Lyophil continues the development today and the
system exhibited at ACHEMA 2009 will demonstrate the latest in ALUS®
technology: a stationary push/pull ALUS® system, which loads and unloads
pharmaceutical vials smoothly into and out from a freeze dryer with man-less
operator monitoring. This frame-less transport of vials is suitable for
integration into a RABS or an Isolator.
Using ALUS® vials remain covered by laminar air flow during the loading
process, and there are no moving parts above the open vials that might create
contamination. ALUS also complies with ATEX guidelines for drugs needing
alcohol-based solvents.
The benefits of using ALUS® are:
- Minimized risk of product contamination: no moving parts above open vials
during loading and unloading,
- High throughput: maximum speed of up to 500 vials/min for loading and 700
vials/min for unloading,
- Highly flexible through very quick format part change,
- Easy cleaning, operation and maintenance: compact design and strict
separation of production and maintenance without drives and electrical parts in
the product room,
- Maximum availability and productivity by high-quality, durable
construction,
- Prepared for applications involving highly potent drugs due to integration
in RABS or Isolator,
- Lower investment and operating cost due to reduced footprint that allows
smaller isolator and less space in production.
GEA Lyophil has the facilities to perform full FAT of ALUS® together with
freeze dryers in-house thus reducing start-up time on-site.
ALUS® can serve as a retrofit option to give existing freeze dryers a new
lease of life, whether originally supplied by GEA Lyophil or not.
Visit the GEA Pharma Systems stand at ACHEMA, hall 4, stand D13 – G22.
Learn more at Achema
Also during the week of the show
experts from GPS will be presenting seminars and sharing their knowledge on the
key subjects that are vitally important to the needs of today’s pharmaceutical
solid dosage manufacturer: continuous processing, containment, compression and
freeze drying including ALUS® (Automatic Loading and Unloading System) and
FlexStream™. These are likely to be very popular so it’s essential for visitors
to pre-register by following the instructions on
www.geapharmasystems.com/achema.