JDSU has released a new product to fight counterfeiters. Charms are printable microstructured taggants - miniscule particles two to three times the size of a red blood cell - that can be customized with a logo or graphic and then added to the printing ink for documents, labels or packaging.

The security solution provides an additional level of authentication. Although invisible to the naked eye, the marked microflakes can easily be verified using a portable microscope to confirm the graphic, size, shape, color and texture.

Additional special attributes that allow forensic use can also be included.

Applied Biosystems are providing a new laboratory information management system (LIMS) which is aimed at pharmaceutical companies to help maintain regulatory compliance and decrease the cost of managing manufacturing operations.

The SQL*LIMS Plug and Play Pharma Package solution is a pre-configured and validated LIMS. The system has been shown to reduce up to 85 per cent of the cost and as much as 75 per cent of the time associated with deployment.

Traditional implementation of LIMS can be expensive and time consuming, taking around eight months, according to Applied Biosystems. But the company's new software solution only takes two months to implement because it has been geared specifically for pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Applied Biosystems designed SQL*LIMS Plug and Play Pharma Package as a complete solution that integrates critical functions involved in drug manufacturing operations with the computer hardware and an Oracle database that enables distribution across an enterprise.

The pre-configured functionality enables system administrators to easily activate user definitions, security parameters, reporting templates and testing methods issued by national and international regulatory bodies.

Hitachi High Technologies America has introduced the new TM-1000 Tabletop Microscope.

The system utilizes scanning electron microscope (SEM) technology giving a performance in excess of an ordinary optical microscope.

The TM-1000 accepts samples up to 70 mm in diameter and 20 mm thickness. It is equipped with auto-focus, auto-brightness and auto-contrast functions and features a magnification range of 20 - 10,000x using standard imaging and up to 40,000x using digital zoom capabilities.

All images are recorded digitally on a computer for easy access.

Infor has integrated two of its solutions thereby streamlining operations for manufacturers, driving product innovation while ensuring regulatory compliance.

Infor PLM Optiva has been coupled with Infor ERP LX which now eliminates the need for custom coding associated with point-to-point integrations.

LX helps customers plan, source, schedule, and ship in a multi-location environment by allowing each operation to determine the best way to manage an item within that facility.

Infor ERP Optiva helps companies successfully support design for manufacturing and the supply chain through enhanced collaboration, coordination, constraint-based validation and integrated stage gate capabilities.

Integrating the solutions improves processes associated with change management and scale-up production of new formulas, materials and packaging, the company said.

Companies will now have an integrated process that ensures quality and compliance, starting with kitchen recipes, through R&D, into pilot plants and then to one or more production facilities or co-packers.

For example, when a cost reduction project requires a new raw material, companies can use the integrated system to source for a low cost option and ensure the reformulation meets regulatory requirements before putting the product into production. Because this work takes place in R&D, companies can develop new products without interfering with standard operations, which improves first batch success rates, reduces downtime, and lowers the costs often associated with manual interfaces.

The system also provides a single source of record for all materials, formulas, packaging, test methods and manufacturing processes in use

Brenton Engineering has introduced its new Series 60 high speed case packer which allows loading of a wide range of products in cases or trays on the same machine, completing 60 cases or trays per minute.

It allows multiple pack patterns, and accommodates harness and wrap-around cases and trays.

The packer also offers a touch screen Human Machine Interface, and numerous ergonomic features, such as a low-level magazine for loading case blanks.