ChemiCals & PharmaCeutiCals
The nexT fronTier in pharma manufacTuring
As the pharmaceutical sector is ramping up production of vaccines against COVID-19, it faces enormous manufacturing and logistics challenges. Quality assurance is a key part of the pharmaceutical manufacturing process, ensuring that products conform to requirements and are not defective. Here, Stephen Hayes, managing director of Beckhoff UK, explains how new technologies integrate automated quality control with frictionless product handling.
F
or pharmaceutical companies, every step of the production line and every aspect of their processes need to be
approved by the regulator. Although this provides security, it also presents the challenge of how to incorporate changes into production. Flexibility is not part of this regulatory system. Therefore, the industry does not have the luxury of trial and error when ramping up production of COVID-19 vaccinations. They need to get it right the first time, get their products approved by the regulators and start mass- producing as soon as possible. Pharmaceutical companies follow
established “good manufacturing practices” (GMPs) and “good automated manufacturing practices” (GAMPs). These are standards mandated by the European Medicines Agency and the US Food and Drug Administration. The standard regulates the quality assurance of pharmaceutical products by prescribing production, quality assurance and documentation of medicine production. The quality inspection of employees, facilities and material is of particular significance. Every step of the production needs to be traceable and the quality verified to pass stringent guidelines.
34 Summer 2021 UKManufacturing
InDusTrIAl AuTOmATIOn OppOrTunITy To get the new COVID-19 production lines going, sizeable investments in people, plants and machinery are currently being made. There is an opportunity here to introduce the latest innovations in industrial automation into the pharmaceutical supply chain and get it certified by the regulators. Where before plant managers may have been wary to stop production to introduce new technologies, because they had
to wait for approval by the authorities, now is the time to re-examine operations. No matter what the new production line
looks like, it will have to go through rigorous testing, quality assurance documentation, verification and acceptance by the regulator. So, why not introduce innovations that will shape the future of how medicines are produced? In the field of quality inspection, the next technological frontier is to design systems that incorporate machine vision (MV) technologies
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