Digitization: On the path to Pharma 4.0

Digital penetration, more and more individualized products and services, and the rapidly increasing significance of data have great potential. As a result, the manufacturing pharmaceutical industry is becoming the trailblazer for a personalized healthcare sector. Mass production is being made flexible.

Using digitization

The pharmaceutical industry is undergoing a transformation. “Pharma 4.0” is the buzzword that sums up the digital advancement of the pharmaceutical industry. It stands for self-learning machines, a networked and more flexible production process, smart data management, and more intuitive forms of interaction between human beings and machines. In many areas, Pharma 4.0 is already a reality. We at Körber are conducting numerous projects to make digitization useful for our customers. The pharmaceutical companies are focusing on two major issues: networked production and ever smaller batch sizes as a result of personalized medicine.

"With our supply on demand solution we’re already reducing supply chain costs by more than 50 percent for all companies, while maintaining top quality."
Hans-Peter Süßlack
Business Process Manager at the Körber Business Area Pharma

In particular, the megatrend toward personalized medicine is having concrete and wide-ranging effects on packaging. “We are observing a continuous increase in the demands made on modern packaging systems. The broader range of product variants on offer is increasing the complexity of the production process. At the same time, the security and efficiency of processes are moving into the foreground,” says Dr. Mario Holl, Chief Digital Officer at the Körber Business Area Pharma. “Digital technologies help to meet these requirements.”

A pharmaceutical production machine with an assortment of pills displayed on it. — Pharmaceutical production: There is a trend toward small batch sizes.

Small batch sizes and short delivery times

In our packaging material area of expertise, we at Körber offer “supply on demand” technology that enables our customers to deliver their products within five days at most, even with very small batch sizes and short order lead times. One of the factors that make this flexibility possible is the creation of direct connections. Our Rondo Solutions link their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system with those of their customers. They also directly connect the digital printer for packaging labels with their customers’ facilities.

“This development is necessary because the market has changed greatly in recent years,” says Hans-Peter Süßlack, Business Process Manager at the Körber Business Area Pharma. In the past, a medication was produced in two or three basic forms. Today the market is much more fragmented because of the trend toward the individualization of medicine. For example, in the past a customer would simply order 250,000 packages of a medication. Today the same customer may order the same number of packages, but these are subdivided into 20, 30 or more different individual orders with batch sizes as small as ten or 20 items.

Automation with “supply on demand”

But it’s not only varied dosages and mixtures of medicines that are changing the sector. In addition, today the legal regulations often vary greatly in the countries where our customers sell their products. These different legal regulations and faster changes in marketing are creating one primary requirement: greater differentiation in the packaging to be printed. The diversity is increasing, because suppliers have to take into account a growing number of language and country versions as well as new requirements for serialization.

The “supply on demand” solution, which integrates the ERP system and, even more importantly, automates work processes, saves costs for the customers. “With this solution we’re already reducing supply chain costs by more than 50 percent for all companies, while maintaining top quality,” says Süßlack. He expects to see further gains in efficiency in the future.

The new reality

Two men in suits are engaged in a conversation.

When Pharma 4.0 becomes a reality: Körber enables its customers to take advantage of the opportunities of digitization.

At the interface: The manufacturing execution system (MES) PAS-X creates the preconditions for completely networked industrial production.

A futuristic mobile phone showcasing advanced technology and intelligent data management for enhanced efficiency.

Learning machines, intelligent data management: The networked factory boosts efficiency.

A person holds a smartwatch, showcasing the growing interaction between humans and technology.

Data alignment: Human beings and machines are interacting with one another more and more intuitively.

Networked industrial production

Efficiency improvements are also the focus of the second grand vision of Pharma 4.0: networked production. The production control software Werum PAS-X MES (Manufacturing Execution System) creates the preconditions for completely networked industrial production by means of an interface that quickly and easily integrates machines into the networks of pharmaceutical companies. “For a long time, this integration process was an unproductive task that took a lot of time,” says Klaus Sauermann, Senior Head of Business Development at the Körber Business Area Pharma. “Our plug & produce solution will greatly simplify this process in the future.”

Much like a USB interface, this solution enables a rapid exchange of data between Werum PAS-X and the machines in the customers’ production halls — it basically functions as a translator. “We ensure that the software and the machines speak the same language,” says Sauermann. PAS-X recognizes new machines in the network as relevant entities and provides them with all the data that is important for them, such as quantities and batch numbers.

Klaus Sauermann, Senior Head of Business Development at the Körber Business Area Pharma.

"We ensure that the software and the machines speak the same language."
Klaus Sauermann
Senior Head of Business Development at the Körber Business Area Pharma

Plug & produce in Industry 4.0

PAS-X offers many advantages for medication producers. It makes it easier to configure the production network and conduct qualification programs for employees. The likelihood of setup errors is reduced, and less time is required for completing projects. “All in all, it reduces the cost of integrating a new machine by up to 75 percent,” says Sauermann.

The plug & produce solution is open and completely independent of the supplier. Through Werum Solutions, we at Körber are working together with companies and organizations such as the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) to establish it as an industry standard. Says Sauermann, “Plug & produce is extremely important for Industry 4.0. Our interface is the perfect solution for this purpose.”