FETTE tablet presses leave the factory in an optimized status that has been tested and recorded by experienced developers and users in a very wide range of tests. Once the tablet press is at the customer’s, a very wide range of circumstances (for example, the product that is to be manufactured, but also internal plant procedures), play a major role. Precisely adjusted to these outline conditions, the yield of the presses can be increased and optimized substantially beyond the set standard.

An eye for the whole – through high qualification
Optimization of processes and machines is a complex task that demands continuous action and reaction to a very broad spectrum of very different factors.
For optimization, as for everything else the company does, FETTE relies on highly qualified technicians, people that are trained and never stop being trained. The qualifications of FETTE employees are based upon:

• 2 complete training specialities: mechanical (industrial mechanics, machine systems engineering) and electrical/electronic (electronics specialist for power systems, electrician)
• Years of technical field service
• Experience process engineering (well over 1000 customers worldwide, more than a decade in the business)
• Attendance at special seminars: granulating, tableting, coating, plus an additional technical course “Solid Dosages”

The optimization process
During acceptance by the customer, the equipment and features specified by the purchase order are compared with the URS (User Requirement Specification) or the FDS (Functional Design Specification). Additionally, a FAT (Factory Acceptance Test) report or a customer-specific acceptance is compiled. These procedures assure that the delivered press complies with the required standards.
But, upon delivery, the ideal meets reality, reality being the actual manufacturing conditions under which the tablet press will need to function, and these may vary very widely from manufacturer to manufacturer. Re-optimization is therefore based upon:

• quality of granulate
• quality of product 
• premises 
• climatisation 
• delivery of product 

These variable factors - and many others – can greatly impact the tableting process, but once the product gets to the press, the environment becomes completely controllable. The product enters FETTE´s exclusive Fill-O-Matic (FOM), which is not only an instrument for efficiently filling the dies, it is also the first system on the press that permits optimization. The filing depth calculation – the basis of the adjustments – is defined by the following formula:

Nominal weight of tablet G [mg]
_________________________

Area A [mm²] x Bulk density ρ [mg/mm³]

This interplay of all parameters leads to the lowest rate error rate. Scope of performance:

• Adjustment of the calculated theoretical filling depth
• Fill-O-Matic setup
• Minimization of product loss
• Optimum production speed

Breaking in products
FETTE process engineers fully support and advice our customers in the development of new products and in ensuring that the products will run to perfection on our tablet presses. Once they have been determined, settings and adjustments can be identically reproduced, thereby providing optimal results in repeated production runs. FETTE process engineers routinely carry out this qualification (SOP, Standard Operation Procedure) with developers, chemists, and press operators. As you can imagine, optimum development from the very start can result in significant savings on breaking-in expenses, and this "found capital" can be applied to cost accounting in subsequent production runs. 

Production analyses
Many production runs are repetitions of long existing standards and/or stored data, which means that certain machine factors probably have not been optimally adjusted for current conditions. From time to time, it is important to reassess past performance relative to the status of current circumstances. Scope of performance:

• Analysis of current process status
• Proposal of target concept
• Efficiency improvement

Press Tool Consulting
The tableting tools provide an excellent opportunity for optimization, which should ideally take place before the start of new production. The analysis is of the complex interplay of all product components, which may include i.e. granulate properties, size, weight, thickness and hardness. Scope of performance:

• Production analysis
• Tool analysis
• Tool optimization

Project planning and implementation  
Foresighted processing management is characterized by early inclusion of all external forces that may impact on the tableting process. In addition to the tablet press itself and the tablet composition, these forces may also include raw product feed to the press and subsequent transport of tablets away from the press. Scope of Performance:

• Consulting with regard to building, storage, climate, machine layout
• Connection to material feed
• Connection to transport and packing
• Machine design
• Selection of peripherals
• Optimum filling of the machine
• Production optimization

FETTE´s customers expect no more of us than we expect of us ourselves. It is not enough to simply maintain core competency; in every way we attempt to maintain core authority, and always establish new ways to increase production efficiency for our customers. That is the defining mark of a true leader.