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. ]]> http://marketingsource.com/articles/book-promotions/business/growing-need-of-manufacturing-execution-systems-mes-in-the-pharma-industry.html http://marketingsource.com/articles/book-promotions/business/growing-need-of-manufacturing-execution-systems-mes-in-the-pharma-industry.html Wed, 02 Mar 2011 01:50:54 -0600 Considered as the most regulated manufacturing industry, pharmaceutical industry faces severe challenges. GMPs require adherence to strict regulatory standards that can guarantee high production values, improved quality, record-keeping and product validation. Good understanding of the industry processes, advanced risk management systems and automated manufacturing are at the core of the system to surmount these challenges.

The new generation challenges have added a new dimension to the definition of operational excellence. The concept of operational excellence is no more limited to imbibing best industry practices at the production level, such as lean methods or six sigma programs. Operational excellence includes adherence to a wide set of regulatory standards to ensure international quality output. This requires a shift towards fully IT-integrated MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems) to deliver the best results at cost-effective rates.

MES: A Thrust towards Better Production Processes

As a concept, MES aims to streamline the processes conducted manually by people working at a pharmaceutical plant in relation to R&D, order tracking, packaging and supply chain management. By integrating these processes through an automated system, MES tends to equip the managers with comprehensive data to help in proper recipe management and electronic batch processing recording.

In terms of process control, IT-integrated MES focuses on delivering the right information to the right people in the real-time scenario. A narrowed down approach to MES can help implement a zero-error system right from the collection of raw materials to the final delivery. An electronic batch process recording system supported by MES enables electronic documentation. This reduces the time required to create manual batches and eliminates the complexity of paperwork in terms of batch management.

By integrating MES and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, pharmaceutical industries can greater control over production. Although integrating MES and ERP requires programming skills and customized software, it offers better plant automation and control over manufacturing at plants and intelligent resource planning.

Another feature of MES that helps in reducing errors at the batch tracking and electronic process recording is automatic error identification. This feature requires employees to take immediate actions to overcome the problem, thereby eliminating the probability of lags in the corrective and preventive action (CAPA) process.

Although the pharmaceutical industry can be tagged as a ‘laggard’ in the field of technology adoption, MES has a well deserving place in the segment. By automating manufacturing, process control, supply chain and regulatory compliance mechanisms, MES has wide implementation opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry. This system will help the industry achieve multi-faceted operational excellence at a cost-effective rate.

According to Siemens AG, the pharmaceutical industry will have growth path choices in the near future. They can choose between a flexible recipe management in a big manufacturing plant or a small plant with dedicated production lines. While both models will define growth in different phases, IT integration will remain an integral part of these models. Connecting ERP and MES will help pharmaceutical companies execute managed clinical trials, ensure flexible production and measure continuous development. ]]> http://marketingsource.com/articles/book-promotions/business/5-outsourcing-benefits-for-automation-companies.html http://marketingsource.com/articles/book-promotions/business/5-outsourcing-benefits-for-automation-companies.html Wed, 02 Mar 2011 01:49:55 -0600 As businesses are growing post recession, organizations are now gearing themselves to respond to the accelerating market needs. However recession saw them struggle with tighter budgets, cost cuts and operate under leaner structure. The businesses are considering outsourcing as an option to address their customer and business needs that will ensure growth still operating under leaner structure.

Outsourcing is a competitive necessity now and a strategically proven way to achieve growth while not increasing the existing capacities. Outsourcing is One Time Investment with which you keep on reaping following benefits:

* Allows organization to focus on their core competencies, giving them competitive edge among their peers.

* Delivers high quality at great value and availability of highly scalable skilled resource pool giving access to specialized skills and diverse industry experience.

* Extends your geographic reach leveraging the Global Presence and geographically available resources of the partner.

* Flexibility to ramp up & ramp down the team as per customer/project needs. No further investments in resources.

* Increases your business multi fold - Saves on time, effort, infrastructure, training and manpower costs thus increasing revenues.

According to a research report by NASSCOM-Booz & Co, interest in engineering services outsourcing is increasing as companies want to reduce costs to strengthen their competitive position. The worldwide spend on engineering services is expected to grow to over $1 trillion by 2020. Outsourcing scope in the automation companies is also proportionally expanding with technology driving the integration and connectivity of the plant floor to the rest of the enterprise.

* Manufacturers will continually keep facing challenges to raise productivity, lower product costs, reduce plant operating expenses, and increase Return on Investment (ROI) to compete in the global market.

* Outsourcing is considered to be Strategic and one of the best solutions to meet organizations needs and achieve Cost and Quality Benefits.

Outsourcing to a dependable, reliable and flexible “Engineering Outsourcing Partner” will help you to harvest full Outsourcing Benefits. ]]> http://marketingsource.com/articles/marketing/market-research/marketing-research-can-boost-your-business.html http://marketingsource.com/articles/marketing/market-research/marketing-research-can-boost-your-business.html Thu, 25 Nov 2010 05:42:02 -0600 marketing research services but aren’t sure what they involve. Marketing research is not simply a matter of collecting data in order to process it; it involves complex thinking on what subject matters to pursue, and how to go about finding the right information on them.

Data collection

It may seem simple to decide on the concepts and method of data collection that you will use, but it is in fact a far more complicated process; one must find the right questions to ask and know exactly who to aim those questions at; finding the most accurately tailored market sector to question. After this, the content that is gathered must be analysed and understood, taking into account all aspects of the respondent’s feedback in order to make a full and accurate analysis.

Reports

Once data has been fully analysed, a report on said data analysis is then made, detailing a full and accurate conclusion that can be acted upon. These reports generally involve:

Highlights of the survey as well as recommended strategies to follow resulting from the survey, as part of an “Executive summary”

Profiles for each of the participants of the survey, in order to ascertain and ensure that they were fully suited to taking part in the survey

Findings from the survey structured into charts, tables and matrices with accompanying comments; considering all areas of the survey and organised thus

A conclusion section that summarises all the major points found in the survey, so that the reader can concisely see the major points in an instant, should they need to

As you can see, far more work goes into Marketing Research Services than meets the eye. There are various areas of research than can be studied, all varying widely depending on your needs. They include:

Studies on usage of services or products and their attitude to said product or service

Market development, product development, retail development and creative development

The tracking of product or company image and awareness of said image, in order to ascertain progression of the company or product in the market place

Development of strategies, in order to take the brand or company forward

Employee or customer satisfaction levels, to see how well the company is taking care of their employees or customers

Brand research, to define where the brand sits within the marketplace

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