The Danish pharmaceutical group Novo Nordisk has chosen Bürkert, the fluid control specialists, to equip its latest production line for the formulation of insulin vials at its site in Chartres, France.

A technical solution supported by Bürkert allows the pharmaceutical leader to simplify their processes and increase productivity. This plant is dedicated to the production and packaging of insulin products with nearly €20m invested to increase their capacity and build the latest in vial production facilities.

"Our Chartres site is divided into three activities - NNP1 unit assigned to the production of 3ml cartridges, NNP3 unit reserved for packaging products and the new unit will be NNP2, dedicated to the production of bottles," said Olivier Gilles, technical project manager of on site vials formulation Novo Nordisk Chartres.

"The new production line will allow the site in Chartres to be a major focus for the production of insulin vials for the Novo Nordisk Group."

To build its production line, Novo Nordisk started from scratch. The former production unit has been completely redesigned in order to establish a production strategy which is more easily operable, productive and modern. For the project, the group consulted with several pharmaceutical equipment manufacturers before opting for Bürkert.

"It is the only company among the suppliers we met, to have arrived with a team of specialists for each technology sought," recalls Olivier Gilles. "They came armed with full demonstration equipment and also invited us to see their technology in use at one of their client's installations."

The result led Novo Nordisk to join forces with Bürkert to supply their on/off piston valves and ELEMENT diaphragm valve range.

"One of the main criteria for selection is that this type of valve has super bright LEDs to give status feedback, visible from afar, even in a very compact space," said Olivier Gilles. "In addition, they are equipped with on-board piloting solenoid valves and position sensors, embedded to give decentralised control. But an important point is the ease of getting started. These valves have a great feature called "teach-in" for easy, automatic control within a few seconds, for instance after changing a diaphram, instead of several minutes with other valve designs.

"These valves were also chosen for their durability," said Yves Chenard, said sales manager for the France's central region at Bürkert. "The controller heads maintain a slight positive pressure, avoiding the formation of moisture, thereby minimising downtime."

Another criterion for selecting Bürkert was flexibility, as this project employs a different manufacturer of valves in contact with the insulin.

"We also wanted to have the same functions for the visualisation and control of these valves. We then proposed to adapt their control head onto these types of valves," said Olivier Gilles.

Thus the NNP2 unit was equipped with a total of nearly 370 valves and almost 675 control heads from Bürkert. Novo Nordisk has not only sought Bürkert valves for their line formulation technologies, but also Bürkert's conductivity probes - type 8221.

"We chose these sensors for their wide measuring range, reliability and repeatability. We use them to monitor the discharge for our CIP fluids and also to control the final rinse lines from our tanks and piping after acid washing," explains Olivier Gilles.

In all, there are 44 probes and 15 controllers supplied by Bürkert for the NNP2 unit at Novo Nordisk, specified in close collaboration with Bürkert's Engineering team.

Through its partnership with Bürkert, Novo Nordisk was able to devise a process solution that improved production yield, whilst simplifying its operability and maintenance. Validation of the installation is scheduled to be completed in September 2013, and production of the first batch of vials of insulin in 2014. Due to this successful collaboration, the pharmaceutical leader is planning to partner with Bürkert for a possible NNP1 unit revamp.

"This unit is still based on the old technology. If ever we were to revamp NNP1, I have no doubt that we will try to transfer the benefits of the technologies used on the NNP2 unit," added Olivier Gilles.

Decentralised automation is a ground-breaking idea where the intelligence is mounted directly on the valve. The control head integrates features such as the pilot valves for pneumatic control, position feedback and bus communications - all on-board.

In a traditional centralised automation design, this type of information and intelligence is typically located remotely in a control cabinet. Individual runs for both electrical and pneumatic connections are then made to each valve. By contrast, decentralised automation uses a single pneumatic connection and a single bus connection into the field.

The ASI gateway is connected to a central PLC and can send the information further onto a SCADA system. As this intelligence is placed directly in the process environment, it needs to perform in high humidity, high temperature ambient conditions.

The ELEMENT range has been designed in accordance with EHEDG guidelines, featuring stainless steel and thermoplastic construction, to offer the highest level of chemical resistance. The control head type 8691 has been developed for our ELEMENT valve range - however by employing a simple adapter, designed in our Systemhaus, the control head can be installed onto every type of valve used in pharmaceutical plants today.