High quality tubing for the pharmaceutical industry
To provide the Indian pharmaceutical industry with high quality tubing, the international technology group SCHOTT has completely modernized the production technology to highest global standards and also expanded its production capacity. In 2006, SCHOTT installed a new tank to produce SCHOTT FIOLAX® tubing on its site in Jambusar, Gujarat. Two years later, a further high technology tank was set up for additional production of pharmaceutical tubing. SCHOTT is the only supplier to produce premium customized glass tubing at the highest international standards directly in India.
SCHOTT Tubing in Jambusar
Circa 1884. Jena, Germany. SCHOTT was born. This company’s architect, Otto Schott revolutionized the science and technology of glass by establishing a glass technical laboratory then named SCHOTT & Genossen. The great man has since then been called the ‘Founder of the Modern-age Glass Technology’. And it is not without reason. For more than 125 years, SCHOTT has been setting the standard in the special glass industry. Using experience gained in the past, the company creates new ideas for the future. Currently, the Ceran glass ceramic cooktops and components for solar systems are amongst the various examples of innovative technology born of its long standing tradition.
The company’s core markets are the household appliance, pharmaceuticals, electronics, optics, solar power, transportation and architecture industries. It is strongly committed to contributing to its customers’ success and making SCHOTT an important part of people’s lives with its high-quality products and intelligent solutions. SCHOTT is committed to managing its business in a sustainable manner and supporting its employees, society and the environment. The Group maintains close proximity to its customers with manufacturing and sales units in 35 different countries. Its workforce of around 16,000 employees generated worldwide sales of approximately 2 billion euros for the 2011—2012 financial year. SCHOTT AG, with its headquarters in Mainz, Germany, is owned by the Carl Zeiss Foundation. “At SCHOTT, we have been setting standards for manufacturing glass tubing with our technical terms of supply. This means we are committed to constantly improve our production process and offer our customers the highest possible transparency and quality assurance,” says Jürgen Achatz, Global Sales Director for Pharmaceutical Tubing at SCHOTT.
Quality Control Laboratory
114 years after its founding in Germany, the company set foot in India as SCHOTT Glass India in 1998 by taking over a company producing pharmaceutical tubing in Jambusar district in the State of Gujarat. This plant now functions as a production hub for SCHOTT pharmaceutical tubing for Asia.
To provide the Indian pharmaceutical industry with high quality tubing, SCHOTT has completely modernized the production technology to international SCHOTT standards and also expanded its production capacity. In 2006, SCHOTT installed a new tank to produce SCHOTT FIOLAX®tubing on site. Two years later, a further high technology tank was set up for additional production of pharmaceutical tubing. SCHOTT is the only supplier to produce premium customized glass tubing directly in India.
With a proven track record of more than 100 years, FIOLAX® today is the world’s most frequently used glass tubing for manufacturing primary pharmaceutical packaging. Pharmaceutical containers made of FIOLAX® are characterized by outstanding chemical resistance, neutrality and impermeability. Ampoules, vials, cartridges, or syringes, made of FIOLAX® provide safety to all kinds of sensitive pharmaceuticals, generic drugs and modern biotech medicines. FIOLAX® is known for its extremely high cosmetic and geometric quality. FIOLAX®is very durable and resistant to mechanical effects, resulting in the lowest possible glass defect rates and geometric tolerances. This quality gives SCHOTT’s customers the benefit of cost-effective, stable and automated processing with high production speed, high yield and a very low reject rate.
Laboratory
SCHOTT’s FIOLAX® is a borosilicate glass, known for its high chemical resistance and optimized specifically for use in pharmaceutical packaging. It can be sterilized rather easily and features excellent barrier properties for sensitive drugs. Because of its low alkali content and optional UV protection, it preserves a medicine’s effectiveness for the required time duration.
To meet the quality requirements, SCHOTT developed an information and tracking system for FIOLAX®that offers customers precise information on important manufacturing, material and quality parameters for every ordered batch. All details of the production process are tracked from the very start of production and are available for a period of ten years from the date of manufacturing.
Ready for the shipment
SCHOTT FIOLAX® is more than a top product and a premium brand. With its ‘FIOLAX® Academy’, SCHOTT also offers its trade partners a complete technical and scientific customer advisory service for the entire value creation chain. In special training programs, conducted regularly in India, experts provide information on the composition, properties and production of pharmaceutical glass tubing. Special topics such as drug-container interaction, adsorption, chemical resistance and the stability of packaging and freeze-drying of certain pharmaceutical agents are also covered. Similarly, international regulations and standards for the pharmaceutical industry are discussed at the ‘FIOLAX® Academy’.
SCHOTT manufactures FIOLAX® in Germany, Spain, Brazil India and China. Due to its uniform worldwide quality standards the products delivered to customers are always of the same quality, irrespective of the production site. Each year, SCHOTT manufactures around one million kilometres of pharmaceutical tubing–that is 25 times the circumference of the earth.
Recently, SCHOTT was appointed to India’s national standards body, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) which is the apex authority in creating and maintaining all matters concerning Standardization, Certification and Quality in all industrial sectors. As a new BIS member, the company will advise CHD-10, a subcommittee of the Chemicals Department, which is in charge of standards for glass, glassware and laboratory-ware on specifications and guidelines for various kinds of glass manufacturing in India. This is not just for pharmaceutical tubing but also for other applications such as fire-safe glass, household appliances and fiber optics. Members of CHD-10 belong to Government institutions, manufactures and user groups. This allows BIS to tap into SCHOTT’s vast experience in the areas of specialty glasses, materials and advanced technologies. The BIS decision is an affirmation of SCHOTT’s expertise in pharmaceutical glass product technology and amply rewards the company’s strong commitment to international Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standard. It is one of the only two international companies invited as members of the Committee for Chemicals.
“It is a tremendous privilege to support BIS in improving glass manufacturing standards in India,” says Sundeep Prabhu, Vice President Marketing and Sales for Pharmaceutical Tubing at SCHOTT Glass India. “This milestone is another illustration of the outstanding standardization of product quality and manufacturing processes SCHOTT has achieved in India. Together with BIS, our efforts will benefit Indian consumers as well as industry by ensuring that glass products are safe, reliable and of the highest quality.”
Certainly, SCHOTT Glass is a class apart amidst all its contemporaries.
