Automating your washing processes delivers a wide range of benefits, from ensuring repeatable, high-quality results to improving safety, efficiency, and compliance. Here’s why more pharmaceutical and manufacturing facilities are making the switch.

1. Repeatability and Improved Cleaning Validation

Manual washing is difficult to standardise and even harder to validate. Automated systems eliminate this variability. Once validated at installation, the machine performs the same wash cycle every time, guaranteeing consistent performance and reliable cleaning results.

2. Tailor-Made Washing Recipes

Automated washers allow you to create custom wash cycles based on your specific contact parts and process components. By setting precise parameters, you achieve optimal cleaning performance while minimising energy, water, and resource consumption, fully aligned with your original validation and qualification.

3. Enhanced Operator Safety

Manual washing exposes operators to corrosive detergents, hot water, and repetitive physical tasks. Automation significantly reduces this exposure, helping you maintain a safer, more compliant working environment.

4. Reduced Risk of Operator Error

Human error is inevitable in manual processes. Automated equipment performs identically every time, eliminating variability and removing the need to repeat cleaning due to inconsistent results.

5. Lower Detergent Consumption

Thanks to strong mechanical action, heated water, and targeted spray nozzles, automated systems use significantly less detergent than manual washing. This reduces both operating costs and environmental impact.

6. Maximised Loading Capacity with Custom Baskets

Our in-house–manufactured customised baskets optimise chamber loading, allowing more components to be cleaned in a single cycle. This increases throughput and reduces overall cycle times.

7. Integrated Drying Capabilities

Automated washers use HEPA-filtered air and onboard heat exchangers to deliver effective hot-air drying. Components come out fully dry, no need for a separate drying step.

8. Simplified Auditing and Full Traceability

All IWT Pharma systems meet FDA 21 CFR Part 11 requirements, providing complete HMI traceability of operator activity. Data can be exported to a USB or uploaded to your server, ensuring seamless audit readiness.

9. Improved Staff Utilisation

Automation frees your team to focus on higher-value tasks. While the washer manages the cleaning process, your staff can be deployed where their skills are needed most.

10. Reduced Manufacturing Line Downtime

Faster, more consistent washing cycles mean less downtime and more available production time. This translates directly into improved manufacturing capacity and operational efficiency.

11. Compliance with cGMP Annex 1

Annex 1 requires a robust Contamination Control Strategy (CCS) across the facility. Automated washing systems support CCS requirements far more effectively than manual cleaning, helping you maintain compliance with evolving regulatory expectations.

Discover our full range of washing solutions here.

Watch the video below to explore our Contact Parts Washer portfolio ↓