From batch to continuous tablet manufacturing: a control perspective

Abstract Despite manufacturing innovations and the technologies on the rise, solid oral dosage in the pharmaceutical industry is still mass production. Although this is efficient and cost-effective, it is typically based on a ‘one-size-fits-all’ product concept and lacks the flexibility and agility required to fully meet the needs of the individual patient. Nowadays pharmaceutical industry is experiencing a paradigm shift from batch to continuous manufacturing. This will lead to increased flexibility to target diverse populations as well as more consistent product quality to ensure best efficacy. Continuous processing integrated with online/inline monitoring tools coupled with an efficient automatic feedback control system is highly desired by the pharmaceutical industry. To facilitate the transition from the batch wise production to continuous manufacturing in the pharma industry engineering tools are needed. Hence, the aim of this paper is to enhance the advantage of modeling and control techniques in the field of pharmaceutical applications.