A key customer of ours, who manufactures over-the-counter medicines and creams, came to us with a requirement to replace one of their existing bin washers on site.  This existing bin washer had been on site for over 20 years and was clearly showing signs of wear and tear, furthermore, it was not GMP compliant, so it was time for an upgrade. We had already sold three of our GMP washers for this customer, which included two GMP Parts Washers and one Combined GMP Parts and Bin Washer, thus establishing ourselves as a trusted partner.

One of their larger IBC bins, used to transport product around the site, could only be washed in a large customised chamber, this meant that our standard 2Clean chamber had to be modified, hence the name of this machine ‘2Clean XXL’.

The other challenge was the need for a quick turnaround for the project. The customer only had a finite number of bins, and each of the bins needed washing before they were used again in production, so if there were not enough readily available bins then production would cease. The customer only had enough bins for 9 weeks of production before a washer would be required, so a quick installation was imperative.

Installation:

This was a very challenging install due to the chamber being very large and the factory ceiling and door frames being quite low in places. This meant the chamber needed to be delivered into the Unit on its back, then rotated in situ under a low ceiling, into its correct orientation. This required the use of an external lifting company, which was expertly coordinated by our Project Manager, Greg, who in an earlier career, project managed the heavy lifting of plant machinery in the Oil and Gas Industry, so this was right up his alley!

The installation took place over the weekend to ensure there was minimum disruption to factory operations in what is a busy production facility. This is nothing new for us and is all part of the service we provide.

Following installation, we completed the commissioning of the 2Clean XXL, including calibration checks of the internal temperature, pressure, and conductivity probes to ensure they were all working correctly. The full commissioning process was completed, ensuring the 2Clean XXL was working safely and correctly, in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions and specifications. 

A full site acceptance test, SAT/IA/OQ and OQALARMS, was then carried out on the machine to include full documentation checks to ensure GMP compliance, visual inspections to make sure the 2Clean XXL was not damaged in any way, operational checks to make sure the 2Clean XXL was functioning correctly, and the simulation of 100% of alarms to ensure all safety measures were compliant. 

Summary of outcomes:

Our customer now has a GMP compliant washer that is reliable and easy to use, whilst also ensuring that their production was never stopped nor disrupted at any time during the entirety of this project.