Powder processing research and development (R&D) has its challenges, with experienced scientists and students alike coming across hurdles even when they have the best equipment. Rather than struggling alone, the key is collaboration.
As a tablet instrumenting company, MEDELPHARM is more than just a supplier, it’s a collaborative partner, and its STYL’One Evo remains the most versatile single-punch tableting press in the industry. With this compaction simulation equipment, scientists can achieve in-depth material characterisation and robust formulation development.
STYL’One users continue to report that development time has been considerably shortened and the use of material lessened, but the benefits don’t stop there. MEDELPHARM provides support both before and after purchase with expertise from the MEDELPHARM Science Lab and access to the MySTYL’One online resource centre and community.
Troubleshooting and expert support
The MEDELPHARM Science Lab has been supporting tableting projects for more than 20 years. Whether providing expert advice on how to pursue a project or ongoing issues on troubleshooting, MEDELPHARM Science Lab supports customers from start to finish.
According to Bruno Leclercq, business development manager at MEDELPHARM: “Very often customers approach us and say that they don’t know what kind of production method they should use. When it comes to production methods, they can either use direct compression or granulation, and we help them by looking at what will be the best way to develop their formulation.”
The lab regularly provides support for material characterisation, formulation, scale-up projects and small batch production, as well as training sessions to keep formulators up to date and support the future generation of scientists.
Community collaboration
Through the MySTYL’One Community, scientists and students can communicate through online chat and forum features, as well as access webinars and publications. The MySTYL’One platform aims to aid scientists in overcoming problems by connecting them with other scientists to work together on resolving a problem.
According to Quentin Boulay, product marketing manager at MEDELPHARM: “The idea behind the MySTYL’One Community was to create a forum where we could share knowledge and expertise between customers, our Science Lab, KORSCH innovation centre in Berlin and universities. We bring all users of our compaction simulators together to share their learnings, their challenges, and find some new resources on technology, but also on some scientific applications.
“We help our customers using the equipment through training from scientists from our Science Lab, but we also help them with this community. We will continue to add more services on this platform to help our customers in different ways.”
Supporting a new generation of scientists
Universities often have tight budgets, so they are not always an attractive option if a company is only looking to supply machinery. For MEDELPHARM, they have proven to be mutually beneficial partnerships.
“Students always remember which machines they have been working with for their research studies, and which they were very happy with,” explains Ingrid Coyle, director of corporate business development and communication at MEDELPHARM. “Later on, when they fill a position in the industry, they will remember and recommend us.”
Meanwhile, universities are introduced to a higher level of technology than their budgets would normally afford them. From here, students can learn how to use compaction simulation technology, and when they go into the industry, they know what kind of equipment they need to speed up and secure their development processes. Students finish their education already up to date with the latest technology.
“We supply the machine, we train them on a regular basis, and we explain to them how to analyse the data,” Leclercq adds. “Sometimes they do further studies on a specific subject and come back to us with something we haven’t thought of.
“At the university of Dusseldorf, we worked on a specific project on roller compaction. One PhD student made a recommendation, and we modified the software accordingly. This was to help her in her work, but also it helped us in developing the software further to better serve the customer. At Ghent University, a PhD student that was working on the topic of lubrication has managed to get some interesting data that we can use and promote to our customers. It really gave us good insight into what was feasible.”
Overall, MEDELPHARM’s collaborative partnerships have been win-win scenarios. MEDELPHARM provides the machines, training, and access to support, and in return receives valuable insights. To find out more about how your project would benefit from MEDELPHARM’s services, download the whitepaper below.
