Pharma 4.0 - Impact of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

With the growing number of medical ailments across the globe, the pharmaceutical industry will undoubtedly become more important than ever in the near future. There is a paradigm shift from the mass production of drugs to offering more customized and specialized drugs to a smaller group of patients and this is greatly expected to improve the effectiveness of treatments. The Pharma 4.0 initiative is expected to not only address productivity issues but also provide the industry with smarter tools that can help ensure drug safety. Everyday factory equipment, people, and processes are thus getting increasingly smarter with the advent of digitization.

The introduction of digitization in pharmaceutical manufacturing will also be instrumental in enabling a seamless data exchange across the pharmaceutical supply chain. The connectivity of product, people and process is what constitutes the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Manufacturing will undoubtedly be the biggest beneficiary of IIoT. Thus, industries such as pharma and healthcare will certainly stand a good chance to continue to benefit from IIoT. Analytics-enabled data management vis-à-vis traditional paper-centric approaches will come a long way in being crucial enablers for important management decisions. The pharmaceutical industry should consider making investments in IIoT technologies, most of which are already mature in other industries and have proven effective in improving the efficiency of complex manufacturing operations. Leveraging lessons from this should help companies improve their financial and operational performances.

Digital technologies have thus become a quintessential component of the manufacturing industry in automating operations, streamlining processes, and integrating the different manufacturing departments that are otherwise not adequately connected. IIoT technologies will enable manufacturers gain a 360-degree view of their plant operations with the ability to drill down to any level of detail at any stage of product development. This essentially would mean that data would be made available at just a tap of the screen. Manufacturing companies will transform from being small local hubs to global market places with the introduction of IIoT.

The pharmaceutical industry has been among the forerunners in adopting these digital technologies that can help improve process efficiencies, reduce efforts, and increase profits. Within the industry there has always been an impetus to manage manufacturing processes more effectively.

However, the pharmaceutical industry faces several challenges in being one of the most regulated manufacturing industries. The industry demands a good understanding of manufacturing processes and strict adherence to stringent regulatory standards that guide these processes. Due to regulatory compliance issues in this sector, it has become mandatory for companies in the pharma industry to implement digital technologies. As is the case with any other industry, pharmaceutical manufacturing is faced with challenges, such as the need to enhance product quality, improve process efficiencies, reduce cycle times, reduce scrap and rework, track products, ensure adherence to regulatory guidelines, reduce downtime, and connect the supply chain among several others. This wall of challenges will however crumble eventually, thanks to the advancing benefits of digitization.

Nilesh Roy | emailme@nileshroy.com | +91 982 009 4678

Note: This is a curated article.