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Close This Window Need for Integration, Interoperability and Migrations in the Automation/Process Control Landscape
by: SamuelArthur on
Date: Wed, 2 Mar 2011 Time: 1:51 AM
The pharmaceutical and food processing industry is facing dual challenges – increased competition due to the globalization of businesses and continual change in consumer preferences. To sustain growth in this dynamic market environment, pharmaceuticals and food processing firms have to respond to consumer demands while outweighing competition through a favorable quality and pricing matrix.
Consumer satisfaction has become the buzzword for converting dimes to dollars. As consumers have become more concerned about the safety and transparency of food and drug production, improving quality monitoring processes is an immediate requirement. At the same time, strict adherence to government regulations also brings a sense of security among consumers.
To meet these goals, there is a huge demand for next generation technology integration that will help eliminate cumbersome industrial processes and reduce human intervention at different levels of industrial automation and processes.
Need for Integration
The need for a higher degree of integration in the pharmaceutical and food processing industry is fueled by:
* Technology upgrade: There is a dire need to keep pace with technological advancements, which are occurring at an exponential rate. To meet the requirements of a well-developed global market, technology upgrades are the best possible solution. For example, conventional technologies at the field-level can be upgraded to use smart relay switching, which focuses on commissioning, instead of continuous digital signal transmission.
* Operational Equipment Effectiveness: To meet the demands of an upward market, organizations are focusing on increasing operational effectiveness of their equipments. This, in turn, adversely affects maintenance schedules. Integration is required at this stage to ensure maximum availability and reduced forced outages.
* Regulatory compliance: With FDA regulations becoming even more stringent, mandatory compliance is a must for every organization. By its very concept, integration reduces quality check points and focuses on a strict quality matrix prescribed by the regulatory agencies.
* Interoperability: Integration is required to develop technologies that offer flexibility in terms of cross-platform compatibility. For example, migrating data from a Rockwell platform to a Siemens platform. Interoperability will also reduce training requirements.
To maximize the potential, integration of automation processes should occur at both horizontal and vertical levels. Horizontal integration occurs within a single level of the automation pyramid, for example, integrating PLC, SCADA or CNC modules. Vertical integration synchronizes different levels of the factory automation pyramid in a top-to-bottom approach.
Benefits of Integration
Integration in automation/process control helps to reduce manual intervention at different levels of the automation process. It facilitates report generation at a single screen to make processes faster and support decision making. It fosters efficiency and increased cost-benefits, which are desirable for any organization. High-level integration also strengthens enterprise-level programs, such as supply chain management.
While integration is a welcome concept in the pharmaceuticals and food processing industry, manufacturers have to make a choice between upgrading the old and established technologies or migrating to newer ones.
About the AuthorI’m an industry specialist & writer on plant automations and batch automation in pharmaceutical and food processing industry. I suggest the website www.sarlatech.com for various engineering services and automation related topics like process automation. Rating: Not yet rated Login to vote | Not Registered? Create an account Comments
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