The true cost of manual dispensing in pharmaceutical research and development and manufacturing goes beyond simply the cost of labour, where the hidden costs, in fact, lie within productivity, consistency, and scalability.
We know that dispensing is one of the most significant aspects of lab work and is a huge part of manufacturing and development. We also understand that manual powder dosing is one of the biggest causes of bottlenecks.
The need for accuracy, efficiency, and consistency is key to success; however, with the physical demands placed on manual dispensing, is this now an element in your process that is creating operational and financial challenges?
Powder Dispensing
Manual powder dispensing is a time-consuming and repetitive task that requires precision and a high degree of skill, as powder is weighed, measured, and transferred accurately and consistently every time to various vials/applications.
Powder dispensing is an important step in workflows requiring high levels of attention to detail, as each dose must be carried out with accuracy.
This particular step in the process is considerably time-consuming and reported by many as being one of the most frustrating parts of working in a lab. Often leaving technicians drained, unmotivated, and behind in other areas.
Too often, we can get caught up in the initial expense of investing in technology; however, what if you were presented with all of the costs of manual powder dispensing, where the hidden costs quickly outweigh the cost of investing in automated dispensing?
Manual Powder Dispensing Cost
The hidden costs of manual dispensing:
Labour costs
Manual dispensing is an incredibly labour-intensive process, where active handling hours are extremely high, and highly trained technicians are spending more of their valuable time manually scooping and weighing (repeatedly) rather than focusing on other areas such as research, development, and testing.
You are actively losing out on opportunities in further research and ways to improve operational performance.
Process time is too long
We know that development timelines and production schedules can be critical, and inefficiencies in the process, such as manual dispensing, can affect turnaround times.
These inefficiencies can be anything from workflow continuity being disrupted, as there will no doubt be variations in technician or manufacturer availability, fatigue (as manual dispensing requires intense concentration), competing priorities in the lab, and, of course, general distractions.
In addition, time also has to be counted for time spent manually cleaning the equipment every time, as well as manually documenting and labelling, which again affects processing time, which leads to an increase in costs.
Unscalable
As demand begins to increase and production requirements rise, it becomes more and more difficult to scale manual dispensing and retain the level of accuracy and consistency needed.
Not only will you require more staff and additional training, but you will also have to implement increased oversight, all of which will increase operational costs and potentially lead to more risks.
Throughput constraints
As demand and volumes increase, bottlenecks in workflows become inevitable, with throughput being limited by the availability of trained staff, creating greater inefficiencies between demand and capacity.
As a result, you become dependent on additional labour (more cost), rather than increasing throughput through process improvements (automation).
Risk of human error
Manual powder dispensing brings with it a lot of variability. This in turn leads to an increase in inconsistency due to differences in technique, handling, weighing, and transfer.
Technicians will also have to take into account the characteristics of the powder for dispensing, environmental conditions, and how these can affect the powder, as well as operator fatigue, which can all affect dispensing accuracy which can lead to batch rejections.
In addition, there is also the increased risk of spills and residue with manual dispensing, leading to significant financial waste.
Compliance risks
Due to the nature of the role and human error, data mistakes can and do happen. Data entry and recording when manually dispensing can be messy, with technicians scribbling on paper that gets ruined, or struggling to use tablets to record data with gloves on.
Affecting quality assurance, documentation and traceability, and process control, the cost of compliance issues, especially relating to data recording, can be severe; add in the additional time taken to record individual batches and costs can be significant.
Manual powder dispensing is very dependent on human performance and some of the hidden operational costs of manual powder dispensing lie within:
- Material wastage
- Repeat testing
- Requirement for additional investigations
- Bottlenecks.
Automated Powder Dispensing Solutions
Moving from manual powder dispensing to automated dispensing brings with it a lot of benefits, such as:
- The process is more controlled, allowing for greater repeatability, standardisation, and consistency.
- You improve throughput, removing bottlenecks in the process and creating greater efficiency.
- Operator dependency is reduced, allowing skilled technicians to focus on more complex activities.
- You can achieve high levels of precision, consistent results, and clean and traceable data.
- You have the option to scale efficiently without compromising on quality or accuracy.
Gironex
When evaluating processes and looking where efficiencies can be made, dispensing is a critical area that, when done right, can save time and money.
When looking at the differences between manual and automated powder dispensing, it’s important that you consider all costs, not just the time spent on weighing powders. From productivity, consistency, and ease of scalability, we must take a bigger-picture overview of powder dispensing.
If you’re looking to improve efficiency, strengthen process control, support skilled teams, and build a more productive and sustainable business moving forward, talk to a member of our team today.
Offering automatic gravimetric powder dispensers that offer consistency and efficiency, make now the time to review the operational impact of manual dispensing on your workflow and see how our systems can help.
View our range of products online, or call and speak to us to find out more.