Using a digital twin of existing machines, together with a new message-based communication protocol, engineers can determine how best to implement shop floor integration prior to installation, as Gero Lustig, Global Business Manager Pharma and Life Sciences at ABB explains.
Digitisation
For years, pharmaceutical manufacturers have purchased equipment from various original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). This has resulted in production lines with different automation and control systems each with their own data handling, housed within their own repositories, within their own database. Today, industry is faced with the dilemma of how to integrate these production lines and the existing machines or equipment into current manufacturing execution systems (MES). As important, is the need to harmonise the different shop floors from a digital perspective, without making costly replacements of machinery that are performing perfectly well.
Shop floor integration
Shop floor integration (SFI) software is one solution designed for established pharmaceutical manufacturing plants and their existing machinery or equipment. It allows for the creation of a digital twin of the existing system prior to installation and does not require the installation of a DCS or SCADA to control the line.