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Exercise 11
Your company manufactures and packs Theolin® 300 mg. Theolin® 300 mg is an uncoated tablet which
contains 300 mg theophylline. Upon packing of batch 15B3 one of the operators noticed that there is a
foreign tablet in one of the blister packs.
Use the Fishbone diagram tool and 5 Why’s tool together with the following information to identify the
possible root causes. Then select the three most probable root causes (where exactly did the Ibuspec
tablet came from?) and to suggest possible co
ective and preventative actions for each of the three most
probable root causes (CAPA’s). (17)
Submit ONLY your fishbone diagram and the three most probable root causes with their CAPA’s (no
long discussions). State exactly where the Ibuspec tablet which ended up in the Theolin blister could
have come from.
• The foreign tablet was identified as Ibuspec® 250 mg which is a coated tablet used for pain and
inflammation. The tablet found in the blister was however an uncoated tablet.
• Batch 15B3 of Theolin® 300 mg was granulated in the same granulation cubicle as Ibuspec® 250
mg. Theolin® 300 mg was granulated first, the room was cleaned and Ibuspec® 250 mg was
granulated after the cleaning.
• Ibuspec® 250 mg is not compressed on the same compression machine as Theolin® 300 mg due
to the fact that the Ibuspec® 250 mg tooling does not fit on the compression machine used for
the compression of Theolin® 300 mg.
• A batch of Ibuspec® 250 mg was compressed at the same time (compression started on the same
day) as Theolin® 300 mg (batch 15B3). The batch size of Ibuspec® 250 mg is smaller than that
of Theolin® 300 mg, therefore the batch of Ibuspec® 250 mg finished compression one day before
the Theolin® 300 mg compression finished.
• The batch of Ibuspec® 250 mg was coated directly after compression and the batch spent only 1
hour in the holding area of the coating department.
• After compression of Theolin® 300 mg (batch 15B3) the batch went to the holding area in the
packaging department. Packaging of this batch only started two days later, because operators
were still busy on the packing line with the packaging of Lopmide® capsule.
• The batch of Ibuspec® 250 mg was scheduled for packaging after Theolin® 300 mg (batch 15B3)
• The company has only one wash bay for the whole production area (loose items from the
weighing, granulation, compression & encapsulation, coating and packaging areas are moved to
the wash bay for cleaning. Fixed equipment such as granulators, compression machines etc. are
cleaned in the respective granulation, compression areas etc.).
• All utensils, equipment, drums, compression/encapsulation tooling and holding containers are
cleaned between different products and are stored in a separate room for clean equipment. All
the operators have access to this room and fetch equipment and containers from there as and
when necessary. The bulk holding containers are lined with a plastic bag before using them to
store uncoated tablets (prior to coating), uncoated tablets (prior to packaging), coated tablets
(prior to packaging) and capsules (prior to packaging).
• At the time that this incidence occu
ed, the company had a shortage of plastic bags and bulk
holding containers.
• All the production areas are clearly separated/demarcated.
Exercise 11: Schematic presentation of events
* Blister of batch 15B3 Theolin with one foreign tablet (Ibuspec)
Storage & Distribution
XXXXXXXXXXStorage & Distribution
XXXXXXXXXXInspection & Release
Day 10
Blistering of Ibuspec
Day 9
XXXXXXXXXXInspection *
XXXXXXXXXXCleaning of blister line
XXXXXXXXXXCleaning of blister line
Day 8
Blistering of Theolin
Day 6 & 7
Packaging holding area
(2 days)
Packaging holding area
Day 5
Day 4
Compression Room 2
Theolin
XXXXXXXXXXcompression ended day 5)
Coating area Coating of Ibuspec
Holding area of coating room
(1 hour)
Compression Room 1
Ibuspec
XXXXXXXXXXcompression ended day 4)
Day 3
XXXXXXXXXXIbuspec 250 mg
Day 2
Cleaning of room
Day 1
Theolin 300 mg
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