Pharma 4.0 is an initiative based on Industry 4.0, begun out of the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering Germany/Austria/Switzerland (ISPE D/A/CH) organization, which lead to the formation of:
…the ISPE Pharma 4.0 special interest group (SIG) in 2017. Pharma 4.0 envisions highly efficient automated processes—which could be continuous, batch, or a hybrid of these—driven by an integrated manufacturing control strategy.
I caught up with Emerson’s Alan Johnston about Pharma 4.0 and how Emerson is working with pharmaceutical manufacturers to support their digitalization efforts. Discrete manufacturing industries have seen some real business benefits through digitalization, but for many in the process industries, including Life Science manufacturers, benefits to date have not been as easy to see.
Alan explained that at the upcoming March 18-20 Emerson Exchange conference in Milan, Italy, pharmaceutical and biotech manufacturers will gather in a Life Science Industry Forum to explore practical instances of successes to date. A key part of this forum will be to dispel some of the myths and hype that seems to surround Pharma 4.0.
The forum will be facilitated by Emerson’s Lee Hough and include panelists from companies involved in Digital Transformation consulting, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and automatic processing and packaging machinery manufacturing.
This forum session will include short presentations from each of the panelists on their digitalization perspectives. The panelists will seek to answer some of these questions during their presentations:
- Where has your business focused?
- Where have there been successes and perhaps more importantly, where have there been failures?
- How do you gain the sponsorship of executive management?
- What is the process for identifying and executing digitalization projects?
- Do you have a holistic digitalization program or roadmap?
- Do you focus on individual projects/areas that are giving the business pains?
- How does your digitalization plan fit in with the company’s strategy?
- Do you see digitalization as a genuine benefit to business or a distraction to the real agenda of manufacturing quality product?
An open discussion amongst the panelists and forum attendees will follow. This format enables the sharing of experiences and views on what Pharma 4.0 is and it provides a common vocabulary & understanding of the business value this initiative can deliver.
Join us at Emerson Users Exchange 2020, Milan to learn more about some best practices on the path to Pharma 4.0. Request your free Emerson Exchange Personal Agenda and select this topic and others in your areas of expertise and interests.
