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Capstar Monitors Torque On Bottle Caps For Alternative Medicines

When A Nelson & Co Limited diversified into producing herbal products and cough syrups at its Abingdon plant, it had difficulty in ensuring that the closures on different bottles and jars were tightened to the correct torque. Containers with pump-action tops, childproof seals and tamper-evident caps all have manufacturers’ recommended torque settings that have to be adhered to. With all closures, over-tightening can cause distortion as well as making removal difficult, while under-tightening can lead to leaks.

To overcome these problems, Bach Flower Remedies purchased a CapStar bottle top torque tester from Crane Electronics in an effort to ensure that the correct torque is applied to every cap, regardless of its form or size. Developed in response to demand from the food, drink and pharmaceutical industries, the CapStar is a low-cost, versatile, yet easy to use instrument. The LCD digital readout clearly displays the peak torque of each test, and there is a facility for storing data and downloading it to a printer or computer if required.

Plant Manager at Bach Flowers, Bryan Hitchman, explains how the need arose for a torque monitoring system: “When we were just producing our Bach Flower remedies, only a very small amount of torque was required. It was only when we started to produce the herbal products and cough syrups with different types of closure that we needed torque testing. But now, to make absolutely sure, we use the CapStar on all of our products.”

The company uses the instrument for torque testing samples from the great number of batches it produces. For some product lines, the CapStar is used as an integral part of the process control, with samples from medicinal products being torque tested every 15 minutes. The results are recorded on process control sheets, so any emerging trends can be identified before they cause a problem. Mr Hitchman added: “CapStar does the job very well and easily handles the range of caps that we use. Being very portable, we have no trouble moving it around from line to line, so all of our products can benefit from this additional quality control.”

Bach Flower Remedies offers a range of 39 homeopathic plant- and flower-based remedies as well as its aromatherapy, herbal products and cough syrups. Leading supermarkets and independent health food shops are supplied, together with many overseas outlets.