Research & Test Lab Facilities

For more than 130 years, Alexanderwerk has been a global leader in compaction and granulation. We design and develop top-of-the-line machinery for the chemical, pharmaceutical, and food industries. From our leading-edge products to our expert research and testing facilities, you benefit from our commitment to the most stringent quality standards.

Our recent renovations to the test and research laboratories and process suites in our U.S. headquarters in Montgomeryville, PA enable us to be a better partner to our current and potential customers.

Whether you are looking to supplement your current capabilities or to experiment with our technology to see what can be accomplished with your products, our new testing suites will be a powerful tool at your command. Our highly skilled staff can show you how roller compaction/dry granulation, grating/ shredding, and moist granulation technology can be employed to improve your manufacturing processes, decrease your cost, and increase your efficiency. Offering a variety of machines with differing features and capacities we will partner with your technical team to design experiments that generate the data to help you make meaningful process decisions.

Research Testing with our Roller Compaction Equipment

If you need help deciding if roller compaction can make a difference in your manufacturing processes, call us to discuss what product testing in our new lab suites could offer you. If you want to learn how to maximize the benefit of this technology in your company, ship us your products and spend some time in the lab with our experts. There are no projects too small or problems too difficult for us to tackle. It makes no difference if you work in pharmaceuticals, food processing & manufacturing, or other industries. We have the machinery and expertise to help you. The equipment lineup will change from time to time to keep the best mix of capabilities to meet your goals.

Research testing machinery and equipment we have onsite for pharmaceutical roller compaction includes:

• The WP 120. The WP 120 roller compactor’s integrated design tests the feasibility of compaction on a unit by precisely mirroring the production compaction processes. A small volume test can easily be used to help designed an up-scaled version using larger production sized roller compactors.
• The WP 200. This series of roller compactors cover compaction testing of larger amounts of material in large mirroring the final production process parameters. The WP 200 Pharma roller compactor is a production model that is capable of handling continuous operation.

Machinery that we offer for industrial and chemical roller compaction trials includes:

• PP 175 Series. The PP series comes standard with the patented Combi-Vent-Feeder®. We revolutionized compaction by situating the rollers vertically and adding vacuum capabilities for deaeration to allow for fast and efficient processing of large volumes of raw material with various granule size options. The PP Series’ durable frame, combined with the rollers’ double-sided bearing design, accommodates a high maximum press force. We ensure a compact design by housing all component systems into the machine’s control system, including hydraulics, vacuum pump, cooling water, and air distribution systems. This series machines allows for exploring compaction and granulation of chemical compounds to study possible up- and/ or down-scaling based on customer’s case specific requirements.

At Alexanderwerk test lab facilities, we not only have the capability to handle dry and moist granulation, but our PSG Series Graters and Shredders ensure you meet all your particle size specifications.

What to Consider When Choosing a Facility

When choosing research and test lab facilities, quality is of utmost importance. However, depending upon your business’s unique needs, there could be several other considerations that hold equal importance. You’ll want to ensure that the facility you choose meets some essential criteria.

Quality

Without quality, there is no point in looking further into a test lab’s other services or capabilities. A respected and credentialed lab will transparently list their qualifications, certifications, and quality standards. They should readily disclose details of their quality control program, including:

• Multi-point calibrations
• Control standards
• Analytical methods used in testing
• Methodologies to reveal or prevent skewed test results
• Testing for reproducible results

Collaboration

Long term sustainable solutions and trust are the result of close and candid collaboration.
Are your needs, specification, and processes understood by the lab helping create solutions that are consistently safe, reliable, durable, and efficient? Are the highest quality of customer solutions being created and produced with care and delivered with consistent reliability? Are you being sold to, or are you being presented with solutions to select from?

Turnaround

If timeline is a key concern, discuss what options are available for expedited service. Ask what their average timelines are and compare them to the industry standards. Even for testing or trials that typically take longer, there may be an option to pay for a faster turnaround time.

Services

Some questions you should ask about the research and test lab’s services include:

• Do they supply the required sample collection equipment or guidance?
• Can the laboratory collect the sample onsite?
• Are there pickup services available for the samples?
• Can you communicate with the staff directly involved in the testing process?
• Can they provide referrals for facilities providing tests if they don’t have one you need?

Cost-efficiency

Cost is almost always a factor, particularly with smaller businesses, so it’s important that you fully understand what testing and other services are included in the cost before signing an agreement.

Results That Are Tailor-Made to Your Needs

Alexanderwerk’s extensive experience and expertise in our revolutionary, high-quality equipment leads to unparalleled granulation and compaction services. Whether you need equipment for your production facility or need trusted test lab facilities with the most stringent quality processes, Alexanderwerk is proud to serve you. Benefit from our global reach. Our parent company’s test lab in Remscheid Germany may also be used for material testing. This may be beneficial or necessary due to geographic vicinity or simply because you want to tap into an even wider variety of Alexanderwerk machines.

We regularly tackle complex issues related to technology transfer, process optimization, scale up, and troubleshooting. We have a wealth of practical knowledge in our people and our historical archives in Germany, and we are well-equipped to be the partner that helps you make progress. Our “can do” attitude puts you in control of the work we do together to give you results that are tailor made to your needs and not the result of cookie cutter tests that do not produce new or useful information.

To request more information on our products or services, contact us today. Find your global Alexanderwerk contact partner here.