Pharmaceutical

Woman in a cleanroom coverall, bouffant cap and face mask standing next to a machine in stainless steel.

Stainless Steel Cleanroom Equipment for the Pharma Industry: A GMP Optimized Material Handling Lift

Acquiring cleanroom equipment for pharma may sound simple, but the amount of thinking required is not to be trifled with. Something you are probably all too aware of as it also indirectly embodies the more complex concepts of:

– Industry regulations
– Environmental control
– Low contamination risk
– Optimal ergonomics

… just to mention a few.

The process of acquiring the optimal industry compliant stainless steel machinery for the pharmaceutical industry, can be challenging to say the least.

And on top of that, if what you need is not your ‘typical’ cleanroom item, the list of available suppliers is quickly shortened, and the challenge just grew in complexity.

Hopefully, we at 2Lift can help you simplify this task.

Stainless steel cleanroom equipment as material handling lifters for the pharma industry. 2Lift ApS

We Know the Pharma Industry and May Very Well Have What You’re Looking for

For some, delivering cleanroom equipment for the pharmaceutical industry might be perceived as challenging, demanding and cumbersome. We, too, never underestimate what is required, but we welcome and appreciate the challenge, and never find it cumbersome or too demanding.

On the contrary, designing stainless steel lift equipment for cleanroom use is our passion. We find that challenges make us grow even better at what we do, and for that, we are always grateful.

At 2Lift we are experts in designing and building stainless steel material handling lift solutions for the pharma industry and food / beverage industry.

GMP pharma lifting equipment for clean rooms.

We have many years of experience providing cleanroom equipment for pharma. In fact you could say that 2Lift has grown up with pharma, since the very first handling life we ever designed was for a Danish pharmaceutical company.

And since then, we have been privileged to be trusted to build stainless steel roll lifting equipment, stainless steel drum handler solutions and similar stainless steel equipment for lifting and handling pallets and boxes for cleanroom use.

We take our cleanroom equipment manufacturing task very seriously, and we know the costly consequences of apparently ‘small’ and insignificant occurrences:

A tiny flake of paint, a microscopic drop of lubricant or a fibre in the product … and contamination is now a fact.

Thus when it comes to industrial material handling equipment for pharma, living up to your industry’s standards as well as individual corporate regulations to maintain necessary environmental control and prevent unwanted contamination is one of our primary goals.

We know the importance of GMP.

GMP Is Our Cleanroom Bible

GMP pharma material handling equipment for clean room use.

GMP are the rules we live by when designing pharma equipment such as stainless steel material handling solutions.

As you are probably only too aware of, GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) is the total sum of activities necessary to ensure the quality of a product in terms of correctness and consistency.

The pharma industry meets the GMP rules via standardized rules for all types of work, documentation, control, and prevention of contamination, errors, and mix-ups.

When we in 2Lift design our industrial material handling lifts as cleanroom equipment, we strictly follow the GMP premises for equipment as outlined in the EU Guidelines for Good Manufacturing Practice for Medicinal Products for Human and Veterinary Use.

The most important GMP principles that we build into the design of our material handling lifts are those of contamination prevention.

Thus to quote the EU guidelines for GMP, we work hard to ensure that surfaces are:

“[…] smooth, free from cracks and open joints […]”, in order for them “[…] not [to] shed particulate matter and […] permit easy and effective cleaning and, if necessary, disinfection.”

Further more we strive to make certain that:

“[p]roduction equipment [does] not present any hazard to product. Parts of production equipment that come into contact with the product must not be reactive, additive or absorptive to such an extent that it will affect the quality of the product and thus present any hazard.”

The Measures We Take to Meet GMP in Our Cleanroom Equipment Design
– Cutting Corners and Taking Shortcuts Are not in Our Dictionary

During our time as manufacturers of material handling equipment for the pharmaceutical and food / beverage industry, we have heard stories of products that didn’t live up to industry regulations which resulted in unfortunate product contamination.

When building stainless steel lifters for cleanroom use, product contamination is not the only thing to be aware of. When electricity and moving parts are involved, the safety of the personnel also becomes a large concern.

We know that our customers will go a very long way to ensure that their cleanroom equipment, such as their stainless steel lifting equipment, is safe, reliable and of high quality.

We at 2Lift will go to great length to mirror their ambitions in our material handling lift solutions.

The Backbone Specs on Our Pharma Clean Room Material Handling Equipment
– Grades of Stainless Steel, Levels of Ingress (IP) and Surface Roughness (RA)

Stainless Steel Reel Handler Cleanroom Equipment. 2Lift.

As already mentioned, we cut no corners when it comes to our lifters, neither in design nor material and components. Thus we strictly adhere to industry standards when it comes to grades of stainless steel, levels of ingress protection and surface roughness.

Determining Which Grade of Stainless Steel You Need

Stainless steel is not just stainless steel. As you may already be aware of, there are different types of stainless steel alloys ideal for different purposes and environments.

What we can offer are two types of austenitic stainless steel, AISI 304 and AISI 316L.

Both types of steel are highly corrosion resistant, non-magnetic, heat resistant, hygienic, durable and ideal building material for lifting equipment in the pharmaceutical, food / beverage, chemical, brewery, and dairy industry.

Whether you need a lifter in AISI 304 or AISI 316L depends mainly on the level of corrosive agents present in your environment.

AISI 304

This steel alloy contains about 18% chromium and 10% nickel and offers a very high corrosion protection. AISI 304 is what we use in our standard cleanroom handling lifters and is typically found suitable for the food / beverage industry and sometimes also for the pharmaceutical industry.

AISI 316L

In environments where the risk of corrosion is higher, we recommend using AISI 316L which consists of app. 17% chromium, 12% nickel and 2,2% molybdenum. The addition of molybdenum increases durability and corrosion resistance.

AISI 316L is the recommended choice for environments with high chloride or sulphuric acid exposure. It is also a good choice for offshore / coast-near industry as the acids found in salt water also increases the risk of tarnishing and rust.

High Ingress Protection (Waterproof)

IP (International Protection Rating, also known as Ingress Protection Rating) determines the degree of protection against intrusion of solid and liquid matter such as dust and water. In layman terms the IP is more commonly referred to as water resistant or waterproof.

An ingress protection of IP65 is standard for our pharmaceutical SP-lifters which means that it is dust tight and can resist flowing water – thus allowing for easy cleaning with a hose.

Low Surface Roughness (Ra)

Our cleanroom equipment also has a very low general surface roughness of less than 1.6 Ra and in the case of product contact, we can ensure a Ra of only 0.8.

Our Special Pharma-Suited Components to Optimize on Ergonomics, Cleaning Procedures, and Environmental Control

Thus when it comes to controlling the environment, the choice of building material is crucial. When comes to optimizing on ergonomics, however, the interface design and of choice of components play a pivotal role, too.

Wearing various forms of cleanroom garments can make handling lift equipment a challenge. We do what we can to ease the that task. For instance, we have designed a ‘glove-friendly’ user interface on the remote control, so that the buttons are easily felt through the gloves.

The typical choice of lifting mechanics inside a lifter column is a ball screw drive. Such a solution does have advantages, but the amount of grease and lubricants required to make it work properly can constitute a contamination risk.

Thus, instead we use a contamination risk free solution (that is height precise, too) which consists of a belt strengthened with stainless steel wires. This does not require any lubricants and is thus contamination safe.

On top of this, this system is maintenance free.

Contamination safe lifting mechanics inside stainless steel handling equipment. Picture of band for mast and gear wheel.

The choice of wheels is also something that we are very conscious of. Not only should they be an optimal fit for the given floor in order to obtain least friction and thus cause the least strain possible to the human body, but for contamination reasons, they also shouldn’t mark the floor either.

A Display of Our Stainless Steel Lifter and Handling Solutions
– Examples of Our Cleanroom Equipment

This stainless steel, clean room electric drum handler solution features a rotation unit and a scissor lifting clamp ideal for handling drums in pharmaceutical environments.

Model ERU: Electric Rotation Unit with Scissor Clamp for Drums

With this electric drum handler solution, the drum is gripped with bands mounted on a scissor clamp.

This solution allows the drum to rotate sideways, 180° in each direction. The maximum lifting capacity is 120 kg.

Electric roll lifting equipment for cleanroom use. Features a rotation unit and a scissor clamp for holding the roll.

Model ERU-EC: Electric Rotation Unit with Scissor Clamp for Rolls

With this electric roll handler solution, the roll is gripped with plates mounted on a scissor clamp.

This solution allows the roll to rotate sideways, 180° in each direction. The maximum lifting capacity is 120 kg.

GMP-optimised roll lifting equipment and paper handling equipment in stainless steel for use in cleanroom environments in the pharmaceutical industry. Can both lift and tip the roll.

Model ERM: Electric Roll Manipulator

With this electric roll manipulator solution, the roll is gripped in the core and can then be tilted up 90° allowing for easy placement on a mandrel.

The solution will accommodate different core diameters and can handle rolls up to 350 kg.

Bespoke cleanroom electric lifter for handling (lifting and rotating) a filter housing (cylinder object). The lifter tool consists of a rotation unit with a scissor lift clamp. 2Lift ApS.

Model ERU-EC: Electric Rotation Unit with Scissor Clamp

Using and electric rotation unit and a scissor clamp, a multitude of objects can be gripped and turned. Filter houses, vessels, containers and all manner of process equipment is easily handled.

With the right end effector almost any object can be gripped and handled with this solution that lifts up to 120 kg.

Electric drum lift in GMP compliant standards in stainless steel for cleanroom use. Linear clamp and rotation unit holding a stainless drum.

Model ERU-ELC: Electric Rotation Unit with Linear Clamp for Drums

With this electric drum lift, the drum is gripped with bands mounted on a linear clamp. The linear clamp allows for powerful gripping of drums with a wide range of diameters.

The rotation unit allows the drum to rotate sideways, 180° in each direction. The solution accommodates drums up to 350 kg.

Customised clean room equipment with specially designed double mandrel for lifting, rotating and docking vessel. 2Lift ApS.

Model ERU-DM: Electric Rotation Unit with Double Mandrel

With the electric rotation unit and double mandrel solution, containers and vessels are easily lifted and rotated to allow for docking, emptying and handling in general.

This solution lifts up to 350 kg.

Electric drum lift in GMP compliant standards in stainless steel. A linear clamp and tipping unit allows the drum or barrel to both be lifted and tilted forward.

Model ELC-ETU: Electric Clamping and Tipping Unit

With this electric drum lifting equipment, the drum is gripped with bands mounted on a linear clamp. The linear clamp allows for powerful gripping of drums with a wide range of diameters.

A tipping unit allows the drum to tip forwards, making it easy to empty. The solution accommodates drums up to 350 kg.

Not Finding Your Desired Lifter Solution in Our Gallery?
– Let Us Know, and We’ll Adapt and Design What You Need

In order to be as flexible as possible in our lifter solutions, all our material handling lifters are born with the strength of the 2Lift Modular Design.

This means that we can easily adapt our lifters and find a solution for lifting and handling almost anything you might come up with.

And if we haven’t already designed something similar to what you need, we are always very happy to customize a material handling lift for your specific needs and requirements.

If you have any questions regarding our cleanroom equipment, what we may do for you, or just have questions in general, we very much welcome you contacting us.

Other Industries We Serve

Man running some tests in the food and beverage industry.

Food / Beverage

Explore our hygienic, easy-to-clean stainless steel electric lifter equipment specially designed for the needs and requirements in the food and beverage industry.

READ MORE →

Storage

See our varied range of flexible, strong, and ergonomic industrial material handling machinery ideal for any type of storage environment in any type of industry.