Pharmaceuticals : GEA to Acquire Steris GmbH

Bochum, Germany -- GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft has agreed to acquire Steris GmbH, a subsidiary of U.S. based Steris Corporation. The transfer of Steris GmbH to GEA Group, which is still subject to approval by the antitrust authorities, has been scheduled for November 2005. Steris GmbH registered in Hurth near Cologne, Germany, is one of the leading manufacturers of lyophilizers (freeze dryers) for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Annual sales of the corporation which employs some 160 persons total approximately 40 million U.S. dollars.

"The acquisition of Steris GmbH is another valuable addition to our product portfolio for the growing biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors. Over the next few years, the demand for lyophilizer (freeze dryers) will increase substantially, mainly driven by the growth in pharmaceutical products produced via the biotech route," said GEA Group’s Executive Board member Peter Schenk. The pharmaceutical lyophilization (freeze drying) business of Steris GmbH will strengthen the Process Engineering Division in the Process Engineering Segment.

The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are important markets for the GEA Process Engineering Division. As global market leaders in many segments, the GEA Process Engineering Division offers the pharmaceutical and biotechnology customer individual equipment and complete systems for liquid and powder (solid dosage forms) processing. Products include systems for fermentation, cell rupture (disrupture), filtration, cell harvesting, cleaning (CIP), dispensing (dosing and blending), granulation, drying, coating and tablet compression.

Niro Inc. (Niro Pharma Systems) will represent the Steris GmbH lyophilizer (freeze dryer) range in North America.

For more information contact:
Niro Inc.
Niro Pharma Systems
9165 Rumsey Road
Columbia, MD 21045
Telephone: 410 997 7010
Fax: 410 997 5021
Email: info@niroinc.com
Web site: http://www.niroinc.com/

Schenck AccuRate Gains a Stronger Presence in China

Whitewater, WI -- In a move aimed at creating a stronger presence in China, Schenck AccuRate’s parent company Carl Schenck AG announces the formation of Schenck Tianjin Industrial Technology Co. Ltd.

The Tianjin location, already home to the company mining operations, will also serve as a production facility for the weighing equipment business, which focuses on supplying equipment to the cement, chemical, coal, plastics, steel, and non-ferrous metals industries.

The weighing equipment division will move its manufacturing operations to the Tianjin facility effective January 1, 2006. By consolidating the operations Schenck Tianjin will be able to offer project management, engineering, manufacturing, and after-sale service all in one location.

In addition to the manufacturing location in Tianjin, branch offices in Shanghai and Beijing will remain open offering sales, service, and support.

Schenck AccuRate is a global supplier of bulk solids metering equipment and systems including MECHATRON® Volumetric and Gravimetric Screw- feeders, DEA and DMO Weigh feeders, Multicor™ and DLM Dry Material Flow meters, SacMaster® Bulk Bag Discharging Systems, BEMP™ Belt Scales and SolidsFlow® Louvered Vibratory Feeders.

For additional information on Schenck AccuRate® products, contact us at (800) 558-0184, by fax at (262) 473-2489 or visit www.accuratefeeders.com

Compact Airlock Sieve Wins Prestigious PPMA Award

Pineville, NC -- The Processing & Packaging Machinery Association's awards of Excellence have been recognising superiority and innovation in engineering for ten years. The Bob Newman Medal is awarded in recognition of innovative machinery design by a UK supplier.

The prize was awarded to Russell Finex for their new Compact Airlock Sieve which was launched in March 2005. Since then it has achieved great interest in the technical press and the subsequent sales have exceeded Russell's high expectations.

The PPMA judging panel is made up of eight impartial experts who agreed that the Compact Airlock Sieve "demonstrated a clear improvement in assuring safety". The unique design evolved as a result of close consultation with many of the top pharmaceutical companies around the world. Russell Finex conducted extensive market research which concluded that the biggest concern for pharmaceutical powder processors was the danger of product leakage.

The award presentation took place on the Russell Finex stand at the PPMA show. The President and Chief Executive of PPMA were in attendance along with special guest, snooker player, Dennis Taylor.

Rob O'Connell, Marketing Manager at Russell Finex, commented that "we are very pleased to receive this award as it reinforces the positive feedback we have received from our customers since its release earlier this year".

The revolutionary new design is the first real advance in pharmaceutical sieving technology for ten years, the validatable pneumatic clamping system offers large improvements in product containment and operator health and safety. With powders safely contained, the screener accurately removes any contamination and therefore improves product quality and safeguards the reputation of the user. The unit also complies with the new ATEX legislation in Europe.

The Compact Airlock was designed to ensure containment of potentially harmful powders whilst maintaining the high throughput and accuracy levels of the popular Compact Sieve range. All this has been combined with operator friendly design and tool free assembly and dis-assembly. Crevice free and smooth surfaces make the product contact parts very easy to clean and they are fully washable.

The unit is available with a range of options, including; different materials of construction, different grades of finish, explosion proof motors, mesh deblinding systems and many more. Also available are documentation packages to simplify the validation process.

The versatile Compact Airlock is manufactured at Russell's high quality ISO9001 accredited factory.

For more information contact:
Russell Finex Inc.
625 Eagleton Downs Drive,
Pineville, NC 28134
Telephone: 704 588 9808
Fax: 704 588 0738
Email: sales@russellfinexinc.com
Web site: http://www.russellfinexinc.com/

BETHLEHEM, PA -- An in-line pneumatic batching system from Flexicon Corporation allows simultaneous weigh batching of major ingredients supplied in bulk bags and manual dumping of pre-weighed minor ingredients, and blending of the material while a subsequent batch is accumulated.

Each of the bulk bag dischargers is mounted on load cells, allowing loss-of-weight batching from either or both bulk bags. A system controller starts and stops each discharger's rotary airlock valve to weigh ingredients, first at high feed rate for rapid filling, then at dribble feed rate, stopping material flow once the accurate batch weight has been discharged. System software allows mid-batch bag changes.

Minor, pre-weighed ingredients are added at the manual dumping station after the major ingredients have been discharged from the bulk bags.

The dilute-phase, vacuum conveyor line terminates at a filter receiver (not shown) that accumulates the batch before discharging it through a slide gate valve into a ribbon blender, allowing concurrent batching and blending of materials, cutting cycle times by half.

The bulk bag dischargers are equipped with FLOW-FLEXER bag activators that raise and lower opposite bottom edges of the bag at timed intervals, loosening compacted materials and promoting material flow into the discharge spout. As the bag lightens, the stroke of the bag activators increases, raising the bottom of the bag into a steep "V" shape, while top-mounted POP-TOP stretching devices elongate the bag, promoting total evacuation of material with no manual intervention.

The dumping station collects dust generated during manual dumping activities by means of a high velocity vacuum fan that draws dust away from the operator onto two cartridge filters. An automatic reverse-pulse filter cleaning system releases short blasts of compressed air inside the filters at timed intervals causing dust build-up on the outer surfaces to fall into the hopper.

System components are available constructed of carbon steel with durable industrial finish, or stainless steel finished to industrial food, dairy or pharmaceutical standards.

Other equipment manufactured by the company includes flexible screw conveyors, bulk bag fillers, drum dumpers and engineered plant-wide bulk handling systems with automated controls.

For more information contact:
Flexicon Corporation
2400 Emrick Blvd.
Bethlehem, PA 18020-8006
Tel: 888 353 9426 or 610 814 2400
Fax: 610 814 0600
Email: sales@flexicon.com
Web site: www.flexicon.com

I

The 400th Haver FFS Packaging Machine Sold HAVER, a specialist for technically high-quality packaging plants, is very happy about having sold the 400th FFS machine since its introduction.

Whitehouse Extends Range of Filter Standards
Whitehouse Scientific has further extended its range of filter pore size standards, with the inclusion of standards down to 0.5 micron.

Binder Production : Grinding Technology Leads to Breakthrough Cyclotec, an engineering firm has developed a cost-effective ultra fine grinding technology which will lead to breakthrough in binder production.

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Representatives Wanted - IA, IL, WI, ND, SD

ARBO Engineering Inc., a world leader in resonant vibratory feeders and manufacturer of a complete line of vibratory, flexible screw and belt feeding equipment, is seeking Manufacturer's Representatives for the following sates Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, North and South Dakota.

We are looking for reps with knowledge of feeders and related equipment for Food, Plastic, Chemical and Pharmaceutical industries.

To learn more about our ARBO Engineering Inc. and our products please visit our website at www.arbo-feeders.com

For details please contact:
Mr. Marin Pop M.Sc., Sales Manager
Telephone:  416 636 7057 x 23
or via email at mpop@arbo-feeders.com
 

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Manual on Test Sieving Methods
by ASTM Manual Series
Manual 32 by ASTM

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Agglomeration in Industry : Occurence and Applications
by Wolfgang Pietsch
Hardcover: 834 pages
January 2005

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Mixing of Solids
(Powder Technology Series, No. 12)by Ralf Weinekotter, Hermann Gericke
Hardcover, 176 pages, February 2000

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Designing a Belt Feeder Interface-Transition
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This week's homepage photo is of an in-line pneumatic batching system from Flexicon Corporation that allows simultaneous weigh batching of major ingredients supplied in bulk bags and manual dumping of pre-weighed minor ingredients.  The materials are blending while a subsequent batch is accumulated.

Photo courtesy of www.flexicon.com

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