Facility will host training programs, compression trials, simulation technology and troubleshooting; tableting expert Dr. James Stephens tapped to manage operations.

South Easton, MA – KORSCH America – the US subsidiary of KORSCH AG, the global leader in tablet press technology offering solutions for product development, scale-up, high-speed production, multi-layer, mini-tablet, and WIP/high-containment applications – has opened an INNOVATION CENTER at its headquarters facility in the Boston suburb of South Easton, MA. Concurrently, the company has appointed experienced tablet industry expert Dr. James Stephens to manage the site’s key operations.

KORSCH America’s INNOVATION CENTER will have multiple missions, from advancing industry education and tableting best practices to assisting customers with formulation and troubleshooting. Technical training programs will help existing and potential customers learn how to maximize prominent KORSCH manufacturing technologies, while an array of tableting simulators, scale-up models, and full-scale production tablet presses provide insight into optimized product formulations and equipment configurations.

KORSCH’s compaction simulator technologies will be on full display at the INNOVATION CENTER. The facility’s team of process experts can help streamline even the most complicated formulation efforts, and leverage compaction simulation to characterize materials efficiently using minimal quantities. Troubleshooting common customer process issues also will be emphasized, including an innovative capability to predict and test a range of press tool coatings to address tablet picking and sticking defects often experienced with difficult formulations.

Chosen to oversee the INNOVATION CENTER is tablet industry and materials research veteran Dr. James Stephens, who initially joined KORSCH America in September. Dr. Stephens earned a master’s degree and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson University, where he conducted his thesis on in-die and out-of-die compaction monitoring. Among other professional achievements, he developed a now-patented method of ultrasound-dependent tablet characterization. His work also has involved nondestructive testing instrumentation, naturally derived lubricants and cleaners, and specialty synthetic ester and surfactant applications.

An author of 12 peer-reviewed journal articles, Dr. Stephens has worked extensively with KORSCH’s STYL’One compaction simulator technology, and specializes in training KORSCH customers in the intricacies of tablet compaction and solid dosage manufacturing. His broad purview will include equipment demonstrations, product trials, process optimization, and advanced training. Dr. Stephens will collaborate closely with teams from the KORSCH AG INNOVATION CENTER in Berlin, and the Science Lab at MEDELPLHARM, a KORSCH subsidiary and innovator of the STYL’One compaction simulator technology, based in Lyon, France.