Traceability is an extremely important requirement for pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities. It means that manufacturers need to know where materials come from, where they have been located, how they were processed, and what relationship production activities have to certain batches.
Conventional traceability solutions may involve heavy use of manual logging of data, barcode scanning, spreadsheets, and even disconnected systems. Such methods may be effective, but they may also hinder the creation of an overview of operations in real time.
This is where the use of IoT technology comes into play.
Physical Processes and Data in One Solution
IoT technology helps create operational data for various physical objects and pieces of equipment.
In a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant, IoT-enabled hardware can be used to collect data about equipment and environmental status, material storage and transfer, and many other activities.
For example, sensors may gather data about equipment and environmental processes, while RFID and BLE technologies can help track assets and materials.
But instead of using these data points separately, manufacturers can connect them.
Enhancing Material Traceability
Materials and components go through various processes before becoming part of the final product.
The ability to track the processes will enable organizations to determine the following:
- The location of the material
- The production department that used the material
- The specific batch or process in which it occurred
- The time the material entered or exited the particular department
- The availability of information on how it was handled
The improved traceability can play an instrumental role during the investigation of discrepancies or evaluation of past manufacturing processes.
Relating Equipment Events with Production Information
Traceability does not only involve the material alone.
It also involves equipment-related information. The relationship between equipment events and production or batch information enables organizations to gain more insight into what happened during the process.
An equipment event that happens in a certain period of production becomes more meaningful when linked to other information such as the material, batch, and process information.
From Data Collection to Manufacturing Intelligence
IoT data collection is just the start of the process.
The data is made even more useful if it can be linked up with systems like MES, ERP, LIMS, and QMS. Edge computing and industrial gateways can assist with linking up different devices and communication protocols in manufacturing facilities.
PharmaFlux AI solutions aim at linking workforce, assets, inventory, process, and traceability data to provide pharmaceutical manufacturing intelligence.
The goal is not just to collect data but to make relevant information accessible and understandable.
Conclusion
IoT technologies can help pharmaceutical manufacturers go towards connectivity and visibility of operations.
With connection of materials, machinery, workforce, processes, and production data, organizations will gain better traceability and operational context.
At the end of the day, digital manufacturing is all about turning disconnected data into usable information.
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