Coating with Confidence:  Fabtech’s Auto Coaters for Superior Tablet Finishing

Most of us check the expiry date before buying food, or especially medicines. The impact of taking an expired pill can lead to harmful side effects or more severe consequences. But while the expiry date is something we all understand, many factors go into making pills safe and effective in the first place.

Behind every tablet is an entire ecosystem of people and processes — doctors who diagnose, pharmacists who dispense, and life engineers like us; Life engineers because what we design and build ultimately supports life-saving products.

Fabtech’s engineering expertise powers solutions for several pharma and biopharma organisations and their diverse projects. One of our critical contributions is tablet coating thatserves a complex and essential purpose for making safe, high-quality auto coater machine manufacturer and tablets.

Why Tablet Coating Matters

1. Protection from Environmental Factors: 

Some APIs are sensitive to elements like moisture, light, and oxygen, which can cause degradation. The coating acts as a protective barrier by shielding the API from these factors and increasing its stability and shelf life. Opaque materials like titanium dioxide can further protect light-sensitive actives from photodegradation.

2. Controlled Drug Release: 

Coatings can control the rate and/or location of drug release in the body.

• Delayed-release coatings protect the drug from breakdown in stomach acid, prevent premature drug release and allow it to reach the intestines for absorption. This is particularly important for acid-sensitive drugs or those that can cause gastric irritation.
  
• Sustained/Extended coatings can be designed to release the drug slowly over an extended period. This reduces the need for frequent dosing and potentially improves patient compliance and therapeutic efficacy.

3. Taste and Odour Masking: 

Many active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) have unpleasant tastes or odours that can deter patients from taking their medication. A coating can make medicines easier to take, especially for children and older adults.

4. Enhanced Appearance: 

Coatings improve the aesthetic appeal of tablets, making them smoother, shinier, and more attractive. This enhances patient trust and strengthens brand recognition.

5. Improved Swallowability: 

The smooth, polished coating reduces roughness and friction, making them easier to swallow, which can be particularly beneficial for patients who have difficulty with uncoated tablets or larger pills.

6. Improved Mechanical Strength and Durability: 

Uncoated tablets are prone to abrasion and breakage. Coatings can enhance the tablet’s mechanical strength, protecting it from chipping and making it more robust during bulk handling, high-speed packaging, and transportation, thus improving its shelf life.

How Fabtech’s Autocoater Enhances Tablet Coating Operations

1. Precision Control of Critical Variables

Fabtech’s Autocoater ensures tight control over key coating parameters like spray rate, pressure, airflow, and temperature. This ensures consistent batch quality and repeatable results, reducing variability and improving overall product performance and regulatory compliance.

2. Perforated Coating Pan with Peristaltic Pump

The perforated solution container optimises airflow distribution and drying efficiency. The peristaltic pump with pressure controls enables accurate liquid delivery and precise film deposition. This setup supports both aqueous and organic solvent-based coatings with uniform film formation.

3. Optimised Tablet Movement

The unique cascading tablet flow enhances tablet exposure to the spray zone, ensuring uniform coating on every tablet, even with complex shapes or contours. This minimises patchy surfaces and improves aesthetics, dissolution performance, and dose accuracy.

Related: Granulation: An Important Process in Tablet Manufacturing

4. GMP In-Wall Design with Multi-Level Access

The in-wall mounting saves cleanroom space, improves technical-process segregation and supports cGMP practices. Multi-level access enhances operational control and traceability.

5. JOG Function for Core Heating and Cooling

The JOG function allows for the gradual heating and cooling of the tablets.  It minimises thermal shock and reduces the risk of tablet damage or coating defects, especially important for temperature-sensitive APIs.

6. Automatic Washing System

Built-in CIP (Clean-in-Place) systems minimise manual cleaning effort, reduce downtime, ensure compliance with cleaning validation protocols, and support efficient batch changeovers.

7. Compliance and Versatility

With 21 CFR Part 11 compliance, Fabtech’s Autocoater supports electronic records and audit trails for regulated environments. Its availability across lab, pilot, and production-scale models allows smooth scale-up from R&D to commercial manufacturing.

8. Material Excellence

SS 316/316L ensures corrosion resistance and hygiene. Mirror-finished product contact parts prevent residue buildup, while matt-finished non-contact areas reduce glare and improve visibility for operators.

9. Modular Flexibility

Interchangeable pans and an adjustable spray nozzle help accommodate different tablet sizes and batch volumes, offering the pharma production process the flexibility and an uncompromising coating quality.

10. Recipe-Based Operations

Automated, recipe-driven controls ensure standardised processes, reduce operator dependency, and facilitate fast batch setup and scale-up, while ensuring reproducibility across batches.

Engineering Behind Every Dose

At Fabtech, we support biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical turnkey projects, bringing advanced, compliant, and efficient manufacturing capabilities to life. We believe it is not just about creating high-performing tablet coating equipment, but about building trust in every tablet that reaches a patient’s hand.

Fabtech’s Autocoater is a robust, flexible, and high-performing solution for modern pharmaceutical tablet coating needs—delivering not just coatings, but coating with confidence. Get in touch with our experts for Auto Coaters that promise quality, safety, and peace of mind. Every time.