Weigh & Dispense

Weigh and dispense software pharma: 100% accurate from the start

With shorter production runs and more frequent changeovers now the norm, it’s essential that the right material and quantity is dispensed for each batch. With constant cost pressures, there is no room for errors in raw material issuance such as incorrect material identification, potency assay miscalculations, incorrect hand marked up drum weights etc. Inadvertently using an active ingredient that has not been fully tested and approved for use can lead to batch loss.

As quality expectations grow, there is increasing pressure to be able to quickly trace recalled products back to the raw materials and consumables used in their manufacturing to quickly identify the problem and any other batches that may be impacted.

How can Weigh and Dispense software for pharmaceuticals make a difference to today’s Life Science and Pharmaceutical Manufacturing?
Find out more about dispensing in the pharmaceutical industry.

In the past, Weigh & Dispense software was often seen as a standalone system that might not deliver a real benefit to batch manufacturing plants that already have adequate procedures in place. However, as the number of batches increases, so does human error and coupled with the cost of investigations into weight or material errors, W&D software has now proven its cost effectiveness and ability to reduce error rates and costs. Many businesses calculate that the saving from even 1 batch rework or loss justifies their entire investment in Weigh & Dispense software. Significant benefits include:

• 100% verification of raw materials
• Automatic generation of correct documentation for each batch
• Automatic alerts for deviations
• Integration into ERP
• Seamless integration to electronic batch records for a single report output
• Elimination of paper

Shopfloor-Online^TM Lifescience Edition W&D has been specifically designed to meet the needs of competitive, fast moving and highly regulated industries like the manufacturing of Generic and Branded pharmaceuticals, Medical Devices and Contract Manufacturing. It provides:

• 100% verification of raw material: with manual or hybrid systems, warehouse staff and operators must manually check the materials against the batch materials sheet and manually print or record the details for traceability. The risk is an error in the raw material selection which results in either unapproved raw materials being used or worse, the wrong material being used in the manufacture of the batch.
  Shopfloor-Online^TM Lifescience Edition W&D can interface to the ERP system so that material lot numbers and quality status can be verified against the Bill of Materials for that order, to ensure 100% right first time raw materials in the most critical of production operations. It will:
• alert the operator if a non-conforming material is selected
• automatically generate the correct labelling and generate an electronic record for Weigh and Dispense with the double electronic signatures required
• update the ERP with quantity adjustments
• 100% control of quantities: whether kitting in the warehouse or dispensing exact quantities in a dispensary room/booth, the identification and quantity of all materials and containers using labels needs to be manually carried out. Material lot numbers and quantities used for a batch are manually recorded in the batch record and all labels required are manually printed out and attached. Label accountability and traceability details may also be manually recorded in the paper batch record.
  Shopfloor-Online^TM Lifescience Edition W&D can verify and label materials, whether kitting in the warehouse or the verification of the exact quantities against the Bill of Materials (BOM) for a specific batch. Labels can be automatically printed at the point of use with the correct information and accounted for automatically.
• Real-time location tracking and stock level adjustment: When inventory drums are subdivided, parts of drums are manually labelled and returned to the warehouse ad-hoc.
  Shopfloor-Online^TM Lifescience Edition W&D can automatically update ERP with inventory quantity adjustments and track the movement of the materials from one location to another, so 100% accuracy of materials, quantities and their locations is maintained. Stock levels at particular locations can easily be seen real-time to help with planning and reduce wait times for raw materials.
• Group / Campaign Weighing: With many common excipient and consumable materials used across products, it can be more efficient to weigh or count these together in one location rather than for one batch at a time. There are efficiencies associated with room/booth cleaning.
  Shopfloor-Online^TM Lifescience Edition W&D can allow a material to be selected for weigh and dispense and then list the various product batches that require that material. The quantities are still verified against the bill of materials for each batch, but the ability to weigh on a campaign or group basis saves time and increases productivity for many pharmaceutical companies.

With a broad range of industry experience behind it, LZ Lifescience has specifically developed a Weigh & Dispense solution for Generic & Branded pharmaceuticals, Medical Devices and Contract Manufacturing. The Shopfloor-Online^TM Lifescience Edition W&D provides a Weigh & Dispense function that is:

• • Configurable for any business: rather than a fixed screen with a fixed sequence of steps, Shopfloor-Online^TM Lifescience Edition W&D provides a flexible workflow that can easily be tailored to any weigh & dispense process or specific product requirements. In addition, any process changes can be updated quickly without specialist teams or coding.
  • Web based to eliminate the need to purchase dedicated workstation PCs. Shopfloor-Online^TM Lifescience Edition W&D is a web based application that can be installed in your data center, which may not even be on site, and it can be accessed from any existing PC, windows tablet or laptop using Internet Explorer.
  • Full integration with ERP: Shopfloor-Online^TM Lifescience Edition has been developed with a universal data interface (UDI) so it can integrate to a full range of control systems, ERP systems, training databases and many other systems. It integrates to ERP systems like SAP, Oracle, JDE, BPCS, QAD & IFS and many more. It can integrate to existing PLC/SCADA, OPC Server and other control system technologies as well as directly to weigh scales.
  • A single record when integrated with Shopfloor-Online^TM Lifescience Edition EBR. Unlike many other systems where Weigh & Dispense records are separate to electronic batch records and hence custom coding is needed to integrate essentially 2 systems, the Shopfloor-Online^TM Lifescience Edition system can provide one integrated environment.
  • Rapid Implementation
  • Simple intuitive screens for individual batch and group/campaign weighing with drag & drop weigh and dispense configuration. During operation, users work with popup forms that indicate the next task and that work at the speed of the user. Data collected by the system is presented in easy to read tables and these tables can be configured to closely match your existing batch records or a specific format you require.
  • Support for Business case and Training. Understanding the time constraints in manufacturing, LZ Lifescience has developed a rapid review process which can automatically calculate business benefits from key data.
  • Typical implementation times are 3-6 months.

If you would like to discuss how your business can benefit from Shopfloor-Online^TM Lifescience Edition W&D, please contact us