Relating material properties to manufacturing performance and product quality

GSK’s Dungarvan manufacturing site started operations in 1981 and is now one of the largest employers in the south east of Ireland. The site supplies more than 70 global markets with pain relief and denture care products. A centre of packaging excellence, the site boasts a committed workforce with technical, engineering, quality and operational expertise.

GSK Dungarvan manufactures high-volume products such as Panadol (6.5 billion tablets a year) for international export. The high-volume nature of the operations requires a consistent and reliable supply chain of active ingredients and excipients. While there are many potential suppliers for these ingredients, not every source is suitable for GSK’s products and manufacturing processes. Certain physico-chemical properties such as particle size, powder flow, porosity, crystal polymorphs, water sorption and dissolution are required for high throughput manufacturing and to ensure the quality of the finished product.