The Portable Plant

State-of-the-art technology surrounds the manufacturing industry—from predictive analytics to the industrial Internet of Things and cloud computing.

Pfizer, GEA Pharma Systems, and G-CON Manufacturing unveil a modular manufacturing prototype
Pfizer, GEA Pharma Systems, and G-CON Manufacturing unveil a modular manufacturing prototype

State-of-the-art technology surrounds the manufacturing industry—from predictive analytics to the industrial Internet of Things and cloud computing. But manufacturers are not quick to jump on the bandwagon for buzzwords like Big Data. It’s not because they don’t understand the value of new technology, but because companies, especially in process industries, have built a solid, immovable infrastructure that has deep, rigid roots in control and quality procedures. No one wants to mess with an architecture that can withstand the test of time, but, more importantly, it’s just not economically feasible to constantly change capabilities.

I had that on my mind last weekat the Interphex show while listening to the latest buzz in the pharmaceutical industry—the move from batch to continuous process in the plant. According to one presenter at the conference, the benefits of adopting a continuous process model include higher capital utilization, safety and product quality, and lower operating expenses. The barrier, however, is all the new technology needed to build a continuous processing facility. Not easy, remember? Such a nice idea, too bad it will take a decade or two to do, I thought as I walked the show floor.

But then something happened that made me change my mind. I met with Pfizer.

For over a year, the biopharmaceutical and consumer healthcare company has been working with GEA Pharma Systems and G-CON Manufacturing on developing a prototype of a next-generation oral solid dosage processing technology. The idea was to create a portable, self-contained system for continuous process manufacturing. At Interphex, they delivered on that idea. On display was a small-scale mock-up of its Portable Continuous Miniature and Modular (PCMM) system, and on a screen was a video of the actual deployment at Pfizer’s R&D facility in Groton, CT.

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