Capsugel: Keeping The Customer Satisfied
Capsugel’s history stretches back to 1875 when it was a division of Parke-Davis. In 1979 Capsugel become the first localized business in Warner Lambert, which today is a division of Pfizer, Greenwood, SC. Today the company is the oldest and largest manufacturer of two piece capsules with nine manufacturing sites located globally including, four in Asia, two in Europe and three in the Americas.
Capsugel customers include leading pharmaceutical companies and dietary supplement manufacturers. In terms of the latter capsules are the dosage of choice for dietary supplements. According to the company the natural color Coni-Snap® Capsule is widely used in dietary supplement applications but there is a growing trend in the use of its Vcaps®, which are capsules of plant origin. Vcaps are designed as two piece capsules for vegetarian and kosher consumers, as well as those with specific cultural needs, and are made from commonly used cellulose raw material. Also new at the company is Licaps® for easier absorption, which are available in saw palmetto, St. John’s Wort, kava kava, evening primrose oil, flax oil, ginkgo biloba, echinacea, lecithin, fish oil and vitamin E varieties. Licaps capsules are two piece gelatin capsules that have been specially designed to be sealed for secure containment of liquids and semi-solids. Capsugel’s also offers Press-Fit® Gelcaps, which have a high gloss gelatin coating that encases caplet core. On the equipment front the company recently introduced its Cap-8® filling machine, which can produce approximately 29,000 capsules per hour depending on the capsule size and fill material used.
To keep the pace with customer satisfaction, Randy Dennin, vice president, global business development, dietary supplements, noted that Capsugel measures customer satisfaction through feedback. He said, “We phone customers regularly to an idea of how we are doing as a supplier.” But also paramount, Mr. Dennin said, is building consumer confidence. “Right now there are questions in the minds of consumers and we are pushing for the FDA to publish GMP’s that will improve our reputation not only as a company but as an industry,” he added. “American products are admired around the world and DSHEA should be a regulatory model for all to follow.” As Chairman of IADSA (International Alliance of Dietary/Food Supplement Associations) Mr. Dennin said he has the ability to witness the regulatory systems for dietary supplements around the world. Because of this he has seen the high interest that foreign governments have in the U.S. regulatory system.
Capsugel also provides a wide range of services to its customers including purchasing and logistics services, quality management services, technical services, dietary supplement product and business development services, prescription product and business development services and the Capsugel library, which includes scientific and technical articles covering several fields, primarily related to the pharmaceutical industry, but with increasing focus on dietary supplement applications. To further its education efforts Capsugel has also developed Capsugel University (CU™). CU offers a curriculum to its customers that covers a wide range of topics including capsule filling technology, good manufacturing practices, effective presentations, SOP/technical writing, capsule filling for mechanics, manufacturing certification training, Capsugel’s quality approach, statistical process control, proof of the need for quality, supplier certification, 4th generation management, management of quality, designed experiments, sampling, data analysis and Toyota production system. CU was the result of a need expressed by the company’s business partners. Through this more formalized curriculum Capsugel provides qualified instructors who know the business and products and can bring a wide range of targeted training courses to a customer’s facility.
—R.M.
Capsugel
535 N. Emerald Rd.
Greenwood, SC 29646
Telephone: 864-942-3800
Fax: 864-942-3842
Website: www.capsugel.com
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