Modular Automation: The Plug and Produce Opportunity for Life Sciences

In life sciences, where speed to market is the definition of competitive advantage, today’s automation investments are decidedly modular, whether in the context of plant, process, or production.

Life science manufacturers have high expectations for versatile facilities as the market pivots away from a traditional stick built approach. Early wins have come within biopharma in the form of speed improvements during project implementation and deployment, as realized by predesigned as well as turnkey facilities. The common factor? Standardization enabling integration and automation.

These wins are just the beginning for industries that build their strategies on flexible integration processes. Those that demand automation components have standardized plug-and-produce capabilities can also make product line updates easier. Those that understand the power of a leading-edge orchestration approach. Those that understand that success is measured in time to patient.

This whitepaper discusses the benefits of modular automation given the ongoing evolution to modular plants and what the industry dubs plug-and-produce processing. What standards should you be aware of as you make automation investments within the modular plant? How will modular technologies enable integration with component HMIs? What efficiency and cost impact can you expect to achieve?