Automating crystallization with the Crystal16 & Crystalline

Why automation matters in crystallization

Automation is more than a trend. It’s a powerful way to increase throughput, reproducibility, and data richness, while reducing manual labor and risk. By integrating our crystallization platforms into automated workflows, you can streamline solubility screening, particle engineering, solid-form studies, and more with minimal human intervention.

Our software and hardware are built from the ground up with automation in mind:

• API-enabled architecture: Both Crystal16 and Crystalline run on software that comes with a full API package, making them easy to integrate into any automated pipeline.
• Feedback control: The Crystal16 supports “feedback control”, meaning experiments can be dynamically adjusted based on live measurements (for example, a heating ramp can end automatically when a sample reaches full transmissivity). 
• Remote & robotic handling: On the Crystalline, the hardware is “ready for robotic automation”: pick-and-place arms can manage sample loading/unloading via our specifically developed vial caps, all without compromising analytical integrity. 

Real-world use cases: trusted by industry leaders

Several leading pharmaceutical companies are already leveraging the automation capabilities of Crystal16 and Crystalline in high-throughput workflows:

• Eli Lilly: A study used an automated milling platform integrated with Crystal16 and Crystalline to engineer lovastatin particles. The system combined dynamic image analysis, PAT (process analytical technology), and real-time feedback control to produce tailored particle properties — all in a more time-efficient way. Technobis Crystallization Systems
• Takeda, Pfizer, and CMAC: These companies are also using our automated crystallization systems in their development platforms, benefiting from scalable, data-rich crystallization workflows (among many others in process development).

These examples underscore how deeply automation is transforming industrial R&D.