In January 2014 the "new" FDA process validation guide celebrated its 3 years anniversary - and in February the European Commission launched EMA's draft to a new European Annex 15 for Validation and Qualification in the GMPs. However, although Annex 15 is only a draft, we already know enough to prepare our validation and qualification approach for the future. Actually some of the new practices are already becoming regulatory expectations - sometimes with significant impact on observations or even warning letters for pharmaceutical companies.

The caravan moves on — while markets like China and India took the spotlight during the last years, the Middle East is about to tap into its industrial resources. Major plant projects boom in states like Bahrain. Now wonder that the country was able to attract companies like BASF, Siemens, DHL and many others …

Beumer Group celebrated the official opening of the new factory building in Thailand, located in the eastern Chachoengsao Province. In a festive ceremony, the German ambassador Rolf Schulze congratulated Beumer on completion of the construction and praised the commitment shown by the Beckum-based family company in the Kingdom of Thailand.

For long overland pipe conveyors the costs from increased power consumption are significant. The low rolling resistance trough belt is well studied in theory, tested in lab, and proven in applications. This article describes a methodology that analyses the low rolling resistance pipe belts and introduces recent applications on overland pipe conveyors.

Rentschler Biotechnologie has built a reputation as one of the biopharmaceutical industry’s top contract manufacturing organizations with the help of Quattroflow quaternary diaphragm pumps. In the company’s new single-use production facility, these pumps’ ability to operate with minimal pulsation helps to keep the process within validation boundaries, especially when it comes to minimizing pressure fluctuations during critical filtration steps.

A new technology shall use IIoT architecture solutions to monitor pump performance...

Speciality materials producer Celanese plans to produce its Celstran long fiber reinforced thermoplastics (LFRT) production in Brazil. The company wants to expand an existing plant at Suzano to include the LFRTs.

BASF celebrated the opening of has opened a new production plant for biocatalyzed acrylamide at its site in Nanjing Chemical Industrial Park, Nanjing, China. The plant has a capacity of more than 50,000 tons of biocatalyzed acrylamide per year.

A recent market report expects growth rates of nearly ten percent on India's carbon black market. With an emerging automobile industry in China and India, the production and consumption of carbon black has gradually shifted toward Asia, analysts say.

Nestlé has laid the foundation stone for its first infant formula plant in Russia. The investment of approx. $30,77 million is in line with the company’s strategy to increasingly focus capital spending on the high-growth food and beverage categories of coffee, petcare, infant nutrition and bottled water.