Astell has been helping organisations achieve effective steam sterilisation for more than 140 years. Over that time, we have learned that in much of the world the barrier to safe medicines is not only making them, but proving they are what they claim to be — which takes trained people and properly equipped laboratories. This article draws on lessons from an anonymised West-African pharmaceutical advancement and training centre that equipped multiple autoclaves.
The challenge: capability, not just a machine
Safe medicines depend on trained analysts and equipped quality-control laboratories. One centre in West Africa exists to build exactly that — advancing pharmaceutical quality and training the people who safeguard it — and when it came to equip its laboratories, the autoclave was foundational kit.
Why the centre equipped several autoclaves
Tellingly, the centre did not buy a single machine. It equipped several autoclaves across its labs, covering the full spread of work a QC and training operation generates — preparing culture media and solutions, sterilising glassware, supporting pharmaceutical QC, and decontaminating waste. And the sizing was not taken off a page: chamber capacities were worked through collaboratively against the centre’s real throughput and teaching needs before the order was settled.
What capability-building demands
A facility standing up analytical and QC capacity needs equipment that is dependable, straightforward enough for a rotating body of trainees to operate consistently, and able to underpin the validated, documented cycles that pharmaceutical work demands from day one.
A typical arrangement would be culture media and solutions on a 121°C cycle held for 15 minutes, recalled as stored programmes, with glassware and QC loads on their own programmes and a separate discard cycle for waste.
What this means for QC and training facilities
The priorities are reliability, simple repeatable operation across many hands, and documentation solid enough to support QC and validation — because the whole purpose of the place is to build quality that others can trust.
How Astell can help
In this project, Astell helped equip a training and QC centre with multiple autoclaves matched to its laboratories, its loads and its validation needs. If you have a similar challenge, or another autoclave-related question, contact Astell to discuss it. With hundreds of autoclaves available, highly customisable builds, versatile installation options and an expert team of in-house service engineers, Astell has the skills and experience to help solve your steam sterilisation challenges. Contact Astell today at Info@Astell.com.
