Redefining Process Automation

Not so long ago, the typical pharmaceutical facility might have employed a distributed control system (DCS) for batch process control tasks as well as a variety of stand-alone programmable logic controllers (PLCs) for controlling individual machines. They didn't much talk with each other, and successive manufacturing and fill/finish steps required significant human intervention and clipboard juggling in between.

Okay, a lot of plants still work like that, but that doesn't mean they have to. Today, the twin enablers of commercial information technologies and plant-floor digital networks are reinventing the manufacturing control system. Its tasks are no longer just control of physical variables, and its architecture is now spread across intelligent instruments, servers and other devices throughout the manufacturing environment.

"Competition is increasing, operational costs are rising and workforce expertise is hard to come by," notes Jack Bolick, president of Honeywell Process Solutions (Phoenix). "Today's systems help reduce costs, protect facilities and employees while minimizing risks and maximizing uptime."

"Abnormal situations like plant upsets and environmental incidents can cost millions of dollars and put the health and safety of plant personnel at risk," adds Terry Krouth, vice president of PlantWeb technology for Emerson Process Management (Austin, Texas). "Fortunately, new predictive technology coupled with targeted and guided "help" enables movement beyond simple management of these situations to preventing them."

Controls suppliers also are working more closely with original equipment manufacturers to ensure that traditionally stand-alone machines are equipped to be more readily validated and managed in a regulated manufacturing environment.

"Pharmaceutical companies are turning to automation providers to help them coordinate the efforts of their process equipment makers," says Mark Liston, global accounts director for Schneider Electric's pharmaceutical segment (Knightdale, N.C.) "Their objective is to create universal, vendor-neutral automation and documentation standards that support local flexibility yet put the company back in control of its production systems."

Here, then, some of the latest process automation offerings designed to help put you back in the driver's seat.

Change Management Solution is intended to help life sciences companies track changes and control versions of automation software, devices and equipment used on the factory floor, providing a framework to achieve 21 CFR Part 11 and GMP compliance. Based on GE Fanuc's Cimplicity Manager software, the new Change Management Solution provides electronic record keeping, electronic signature, complete audit trails, and record security. The solution is designed for 21 CFR Part 11 and cGMP regulations and, with an open architecture, can connect to an installed base of disparate plant floor systems.

GE Fanuc

800-GE-FANUC http://www.gefanuc.com

Industrial IT System 800xA is designed to extend the scope of traditional control systems to include all automation functions in a single operations and engineering environment, so that plants can run smarter and better at substantial cost savings. This reach extends well beyond the realm of essential process control to production management, safety systems, smart instrumentation, smart drives and motor control, robotics, information management, asset optimization and documentation. Its unique engineering environment manages one set of consistent data, for single-point entry, single-point change, and re-use across the plant, according to the supplier.

ABB

440 585 8500 http://www.abb.com/us

New service is intended to allow customers in the pharmaceutical industry to easily update their legacy control systems without expensive and time-consuming re-validation. The Validatable PLC service enables input/output cards installed as long as 30 years ago to be connected with the company's newest automation technologies. It is designed to preserve customer investments in system validation while facilitating the upgrade of processors, I/O and other components of process automation systems.

Schneider Electric

919-855-1100 http://www.us.squared.com/iat

Rockwell Automation has expanded its electronic batch records (EBR) capabilities with the release of an EBR-enabled scalable solution designed to allow OEM equipment to directly connect to the manufacturer's information and automation infrastructure. This helps life sciences companies reduce validation costs, improve information flow and gain faster access to plant floor data. Designed to achieve full paperless documentation of batch records, these powerful control platforms and software products help simplify the exchange of real-time data between OEM-supplied skid-mounted systems and the EBR application residing within the company's manufacturing execution system (MES).