Performance
At The Compounding Company we know how important it is for automated compounding robots to deliver performance. Too many times, manufacturers claim performance levels that are not reached in daily practice. Marketing brochures often depict unrealistic numbers, which leads to disappointment. Hence, The Compounder and The Software were developed with clear requirements: deliver actual and real performance that can be relied upon by pharmacy staff. The Software contains production time predictions that reflect the real world. When we say a production of 10 bags takes 12 minutes and 23 seconds, it will actually take 12 minutes and 23 second. And yes, many factors influence potential performance: choice of end-containers and vial- or bagspikes for example. In general The Compounder will be 3-5 times faster than manual compounding while needing less labor hours. To get a feel for performance levels take a look at our example production batches, just click the link below.
Accuracy
Automated compounding robots are equipped with weighing systems to perform gravimetric checks of the product produced to make sure the product made is within the set parameters for weight. These usually are automated weighing systems. In the EU, automated weighing systems need to be certified under the Measuring Instruments Directive (MID). The Compounder is. With that, you can be sure that gravimetric checks on the Compounder are accurate and consistent. Accuracy in general is a complex part of compounding, especially if you go from manual compounding to fully automated compounding. Therefor, we have created whitepapers on accuracy and MID for you to review, see the link below.
Return on investment
There are various reasons to implement automated compounding robots in (hospital) pharmacies: improvements in accuracy, medication safety and employee safety and wellbeing are often mentioned. But the main reason always is an increase in efficiency and productivity, or in other words to be able to do more with the same amount of staff. This is fully understandable in the light of demographic developments and the shortages of staff that are seen everywhere around the world. Hence it is strange to see statements by robot users like this one: “I guess for us at the cancer centers, we haven’t really seen improvements in workflow efficiency. So, it still does usually take the same amount of time and number of personnel to run a product and make a product in the robot.” At The Compounding Company we deliver actual performance with our technology. We help customers prepare a clear business case and usually we see short ROI times starting at 5000 preparations per year, sometimes even lower.
Flexibility
Compounding of parenteral medication is a complex field. Endcontainers (bags, syringes, elastomeric pumps, cassettes), vials, vial spikes, bagspikes, universal connectors, lines, transport syringes: a plethora of items that all have their own characteristics, advantages and disadvantages. From the onset, one of the requirements for our technology was that ideally, it should be possible for the user to use any consumable and any product on The Compounder. Hence, you can use Luer-Lock connectors or CSTD’s and any container that can be coupled through a Luer-Lock or CSTD connection. Our technology comes with adapters that are specifically made for your choice of disposables. For obvious reasons we do not work with needles. Does that mean you can use anything and everything? No. There still are physical limitations that prohibit the use of some spikes or endcontainers. As part of our preparation work with our customers, we will help you find the setup that facilitates your processes and materials best.
Traceability
No more paper production protocols where every action is signed off by one or two staff members. When implementing The Compounder you determine all aspects of reporting, settings, parameters and documentation by yourself. You determine how you want to set product release levels and how many checks you want to incorporate. All steps done in the software while planning a production batch and all steps performed by operators and the robot are logged. You decide how to present this data for future reference, but you can be sure that you can trace all activities back to the smallest details.
Sizeability
The Compounder family is comprised of The Compounder 5, 8 and 10 to fit almost any LAF cabinet, pharmacy or ward.
All built with the same backbone.
All with the same performance.
All working under the same software.