Pharmaceutical manufacturing plants undergoes sequence of processing steps like design formulation, fabrication, withdrawal, dispensation, distillation, covering, liberation and storage of chemical substances for the effective production of essential drugs. Thus the basic part of Pharmaceutical engineering is manufacturing of pharmaceutical products.

The complete procedure of Pharmaceutical manufacturing involves two chief units, primary processing unit (PPU) and secondary processing unit (SPU). PPU involves development of major drug ingredients and research activities with the assistance of skilled and experienced Pharmaceutical engineers.

On the contrary, SPU involves numerous steps for the conversion of dynamic pharmaceutical ingredients into useful drugs. Thus we can say SPU is the second unit of manufacturing process which results in the complete development of drugs ready to use for the treatment of dreadful diseases.

Pharmaceutical products are mainly present in three states that are solid, partially solid and aqueous. Solid and partially solid pharmaceuticals are available in numerous forms like creams, capsules, ointments and tablets. On the other hand, aqueous pharmaceuticals are available chiefly in the forms like suspensions, gels, solutions and emulsions. The key components for aerosols and inhalable stuffs are butane and chlorofluorocarbons which are exclusively for external use only.

The output of Pharmaceutical manufacturing industries includes drugs in the forms of synthetic drugs, vaccines, hormones, glandular products, vitamins, pharmaceutical chemicals and antibiotics. Some of the drugs that are derived from plants are also manufactured by these plants. First aid substances and safety measures are also manufactured by these plants.

The complete process of manufacturing of drugs to its delivery to the market involves chain of steps starting from developing of intermediates, then processing functional groups, esterification and coupling, cleaning and finally purification. Apart from all the above mentioned procedures, aeration, granulation, tablet pressing, printing tablets, filling and wrapping tablets are also the chief job of Pharmaceutical manufacturing plants.