Pharmaceuticals, like every modern industry, is constantly evolving. While this evolution is powered by different dynamic factors, automation in the pharmaceutical industry is one of the key factors in ushering in a better tomorrow as well as meeting the challenges of the current market.
With technology becoming an indispensable part of everyday life, companies are constantly adapting to harness the benefits of the latest innovations. The level of pharma automation in companies determines who will beat the competitors in launching the next big pharma product or simply ride the wave of demand by streamlining the supplies. Simply put, automation in the pharmaceutical industry directly translates to faster, more reliable, and more cost-effective results that are fully compliant with the stringent validation systems that pharma products are subjected to.
Benefits of Automation in the Pharmaceutical Industry
Understanding automation in the pharmaceutical industry is a multi-faceted and broad topic. The application of automation in pharma ranges from contamination prevention to increased production capacities by reducing dependency on manual labour. This constantly pushes the envelope to minimize minute flaws in the system and helps to figure out the most precise way of handling day-to-day operations, no matter the scope or capacity.
Some of the most obvious benefits of automation in the pharmaceutical industry include the following:
Efficient production cycles
Automating specific processes allows repetitive tasks to be performed faster than humans can manage. In addition, they are easy to implement and facilitate 24-hour production cycles.
Reduced contamination
With automation, human contact during the production process is negligible, significantly reducing the risk of product contamination.
Safety
Automation protects the person and the environment in critical applications, especially those involving potent ingredients.
Accurate and repeatable
Automations eliminate the possibility of human error and add speed to complex tasks that require intense focus, like weighing. They also add repeatability to processes like blending and, as a result, reduce product defects.
Data Analytics
Analytics can be used to improve specific processes and determine the efficiency of potential enhancements.
Return on investment
Automating systems increases speed and accuracy and saves time and effort. There are cost optimisations from energy savings, improved product quality, faster production, and speed to market, all of which positively impact the bottom line. You not only recover upfront costs of automation technology faster, but you also benefit from higher ROI over the service life of your equipment.
De-risk
Non-compliance can prove to be a massive expense. Automation systems help companies achieve compliance and lower costs. They enable a culture of manufacturing excellence across the organisation through the implementation of CAPA software.
How TSA Has Embraced Automation
At TSA, we take pride in placing technology at the forefront of all our offerings. While it has always been our priority to put the latest and the most cutting-edge innovations to the best use, we further realized the power of technology and automation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Post-pandemic, we have developed and implemented strategies that allow us to not only meet the demands of the current market but also empower us to build an operating system that can live up to drastic and unforeseeable shifts in the market in the future.
One of the first steps that we took in this direction was to bring together a dream team that built our automation system using the most advanced software and 3D modelling.
When the time came to reap the benefits of this intricately designed system, we relied on in-depth discovery with the customer to understand the scope and process. Once a mutual consensus was established, we worked towards translating it into a highly optimised automation solution that ticks off all the boxes on every company’s automation architecture wishlist. These include ease of use, maintenance friendliness, simplicity of controls, effective data management, time to market, and budget.
By adopting the best practices that the current technology has to offer, we have managed to raise the bar, not just for us but for the industry as a whole. Some of the direct outcomes of our technology-reliant mindset are the following:
Better Equipment
Our equipment is modular and fully integrated, performing seamlessly as a single system with reliable automation processes and superior output. All equipment is 21 CFR part 11 compliant with programming compliant with ISA88 and automation protocols per GAMP 5 standards.
In-Depth Understanding
One of our biggest assets is our deep and broad understanding of upstream and downstream processes allows us to build robust, optimised, safe, and operator-friendly automation systems driven by highly reliable and accurate instruments for consistency and repeatability.
Dynamic Workforce
We employ engineers who have first-hand experience with GAMP 5 regulatory and compliance norms and potential bottlenecks. This significantly informs the scope, design, and delivery of our process offerings. In addition, we treat risk assessment as the key input to deciding the extent and effort for validation. This enables us to dovetail automation into our scope advance, prepping for qualification and audits, resulting in minimum onsite changes.
A highly skilled, experienced, and well-trained electrical and automation team works together with process specialists to design automation sequences that are implemented and rigorously tested.
Complete Compliance
Our offering complies with the most stringent certifications from global pharmacopoeia and safety standards, including CE, UL, PED, and MD. We deliver repeatable results on live FATs for bioprocess applications.
A key advantage of working with TSA is our high-purity applications expertise. We’re the go-to water people in the developing world. Our comprehensive understanding of water and the single source multi-disciplinary approach allows us to dovetail these considerations at the start of the design process. This ensures we are able to limit unwanted complexity and the client isn’t blindsided by unexpected costs.
Customers benefit from our 24×7 value-added services following the commissioning and handover of the facility. In addition, our extensive after-sales network guarantees you have all the support you need to optimise your processes.
Have a project you need help with? Write to sales@tsapepl.com to schedule a chat with our automation experts.
