IT in Manufacturing


Rockwell customises recipe design

April 2011 IT in Manufacturing

Rockwell Automation introduces electronic batch recording to FactoryTalk Pharma Suite.

Rockwell Automation has extended its set of software applications tailored for pharmaceutical and biotech manufacturers, FactoryTalk Pharma Suite, to include electronic batch recording (EBR). The new release comes with a graphical recipe workbench and an enhanced recipe execution client. Both are optimised to meet the needs of target users and provide excellent usability, look and feel.

“Innovation and time to market are the main drivers in the pharmaceutical industry today, and we designed FactoryTalk Pharma Suite to support exactly that. We broke with the old ‘paper-on-glass’ paradigm and optimised FactoryTalk Pharma Suite for maximum productivity of every user at every step of recipe lifecycle, from recipe design to execution, review and approval. This product extends our traditional strength in large-scale pharma-manufacturing to biotech and is well aligned with the latest industry direction – personalised medicine,” explains Vladimir Preysman, chief strategist, Rockwell Software.

In FactoryTalk Pharma Suite, recipes are modelled graphically and aligned with the S88 standard. Visual tools and intelligent search mechanisms help ensure that information required for recipe design such as material, equipment, recipe building blocks, or process parameters can be accessed quickly and easily.

Recipes are assembled from re-usable, parameterised building blocks that represent standard functions like adding material to a process or checking equipment against requirements. The software also allows recipe authors to isolate and save sections of a recipe as custom building blocks. After focused tests and reviews, these building blocks can be reused in new recipes. This accelerates recipe design, prevents errors and enables incremental validation resulting in faster deployment.

“Pharma Suite has proved to be a flexible and agile MES platform that can be deployed in a short time,” says Robert Fretz, head of process automation and MES at Roche. “Its built-in application development framework enables our engineers to install, configure and extend the system by themselves, which was one of the major decision criteria when we were evaluating a material tracking and weighing system for our production.

“The recipe building blocks capture a wealth of domain knowledge and best practices from many successful EBR projects delivered by Rockwell to pharmaceutical and biotech customers worldwide,” says Preysman. “Now, we are expanding this to provide an open and extensible system. We offer IT departments and system integrators the tools to develop their own recipe building blocks in order to address their customers’ individual needs.”

The recipe execution client maximises efficiency by focusing on the operator’s workflow. It has been designed for interaction via a touch-screen and 2D barcode scanner, and provides excellent usability and ergonomics supporting efficient operator performance and compliance with GxP. The system guides the operator through complex processes and helps ensure that all tasks are completed according to the recipe. Deviations are handled by built-in exception management that delivers important input for review by exception.

FactoryTalk Pharma Suite is based on the state-of-the-art FactoryTalk ProductionCentre platform. It leverages a service-oriented architecture (SOA) for cost-effective, flexible deployment and integration with business and automation systems. Object oriented design makes it easier and faster to build, modify, and deploy applications across multiple sites.

For more information contact Jeff Sandison, Rockwell Automation, +27 (0)11 654 9700, [email protected], www.rockwellautomation.co.za



Credit(s)



Share this article:
Share via emailShare via LinkedInPrint this page

Further reading:

Even in autonomous systems, human insight is important
Schneider Electric South Africa IT in Manufacturing
As AI, IIoT and digital twins reshape industrial operations, Schneider Electric’s Kobus Vermeulen and Bafana Msibi argue that the operator’s role is shifting from controlling equipment to interpreting intelligence, validating AI recommendations and making decisions that improve

Read more...
AI-based quality inspection scales across P&G operations
Siemens South Africa IT in Manufacturing
Siemens and Procter & Gamble are expanding an AI-based visual inspection system across P&G’s manufacturing operations worldwide, inspecting products in real time at full line speed, and reducing scrap rates by 10 to 20% depending on the product.

Read more...
Robotic case packer achieves 99% uptime
Rockwell Automation Motion Control & Drives
DCC Automation designed a new robotic case packer for a nutrition supplement manufacturer using delta robots and a unified Rockwell Automation control platform, cutting changeover time from 45 minutes to 5 minutes, and achieving 99 to 99,5% uptime against the previous 10% per-shift downtime.

Read more...
How sustainability unlocks real business impact
Rockwell Automation IT in Manufacturing
Sustainability has moved from a compliance obligation to a strategic driver of resilience and value for manufacturers. Rockwell Automation explains how its Triple A framework and connected-data approach help producers cut energy, water and waste while improving productivity.

Read more...
Mining’s AI future will depend on people as well as technology
IT in Manufacturing
South Africa’s mining industry is embracing digitalisation and AI, but AvenirHoldings chief executive officer, Tshidi Mndzebele says the real test is whether the people behind the industry are equipped to move forward with it, and outlines five things mining needs to get right.

Read more...
How BIC overcame operational silos to integrate technology and people
Rockwell Automation IT in Manufacturing
Manufacturing giant BIC deployed Plex MES from Rockwell Automation at its Bizerte plant in Tunisia, replacing fragmented, partly in-house software with a single cloud-based execution system that broke operational silos and improved shop-floor visibility.

Read more...
AI in industry is an early warning system, not a guarantee
Schneider Electric South Africa IT in Manufacturing
Schneider Electric’s Paul Steyn argues that AI in industrial maintenance is only as good as the infrastructure and people behind it, and explains the three layers a facility needs before predictive maintenance can deliver on its promise.

Read more...
SA’s mining industry must put people at the heart of its digital future
IT in Manufacturing
South Africa’s mining industry employs around 470 000 people while its digital transition accelerates. Avenir’s chief executive officer, Tshidi Mndzebele argues that technology should enable and upskill the workforce rather than replace it, setting out five ways mining can make technology work for its people.

Read more...
Quality control supports efficient tissue production
Valmet South Africa IT in Manufacturing
Valmet’s advanced quality control technology is helping tissue producers improve product consistency while reducing energy and raw material consumption. Its latest installation at KORO Paper in Vietnam combines real-time measurement, process optimisation and non-contact, nuclear-free quality control.

Read more...
Patented algorithm maximises operator efficiency
Rockwell Automation IT in Manufacturing
Rockwell Automation piloted a patented anomaly detection algorithm and FactoryTalk DataMosaix at its Twinsburg electronics plant, giving operators 30 to 60 days’ advance warning of stencil failure, improving fail rates by 22% and achieving a 200% return on investment.

Read more...









While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained herein, the publisher and its agents cannot be held responsible for any errors contained, or any loss incurred as a result. Articles published do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers. The editor reserves the right to alter or cut copy. Articles submitted are deemed to have been cleared for publication. Advertisements and company contact details are published as provided by the advertiser. Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd cannot be held responsible for the accuracy or veracity of supplied material.




© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd | All Rights Reserved