May 2020

33 www.drivesncontrols.com May 2020 PHARMACEUTICAL AND MEDICAL n Robots are moving into pharma and medtec I f ever an unfortunate event reminded us that over-reliance on limited manual resources and overcrowded working conditions is unsustainable for our manufacturing industries, the Covid-19 pandemic is it. Our manufacturing landscape is about to change completely. For the foreseeable future, we will have to maintain social distancing within the workplace. Dexterous collaborative robots with small footprints will increasingly become our “co-workers”. One sector showing a particular interest in adopting advanced automation is pharmaceuticals and medical technologies. Ireland is leading the way, with several global life sciences companies – such as Abbott, J&J, Boston Scientific, Medtronic and Hollister – being leading adopters of automation in their Irish operations. Ireland is home to nine out of the world's top 10 medical device companies, and hosts more than 300 companies in the medical technology sector. Similarly, all of the world’s top 10 biotechnology companies and more than 70 pharmaceuticals companies have manufacturing plants in Ireland. It is no surprise that the country has led the way in building a network of machine- builders and systems integrators that target these sectors. Medical device manufacturing has traditionally been labour-intensive, due to: n products being developed with clinicians and patients in mind, with minimal input from manufacturing engineers; n profit margins tending to be very high and well protected by patents, justifying large workforces; and n many countries offering supportive grant aid, often linked to the numbers of people employed. Primary pharmaceutical and biotech manufacturers mainly ship bulk active ingredients and, until now, apart from plant (DCS) and skid-mount (PLC) process control, have shown little interest in automation and robotics. This is despite as much as 35–50% of biotech operating costs being manual labour. Secondary manufacturers, however, are well automated for processes such as tableting, vial/bottle filling, leaflet insertion, packing and palletising. Enforced change More recently, changes to the medical device market – such as mergers and acquisitions, expiring patents with resultant competition from lower-cost countries, falling margins, and high cleanroom costs – have accelerated the adoption of automation. R&D engineers now engage with manufacturing engineers from the outset of product development to ensure that, should the product receive regulatory approval, it can be manufactured and scaled up cost- effectively using automation. KUKA’s LBR Med robot caters to this trend and is the first robot certified for integration into medical devices. It is used in diagnosis, rehabilitation, aesthetic surgery, and for medical treatment in operating rooms. Even in primary pharmaceutical and biotech manufacturing, executives are looking at releasing highly-paid chemists and biotechnologists from mundane non- value-added tasks, such as environmental and product sampling and kitting, and avoiding the need for their employees to handle potent, hazardous and toxic chemicals. Robots are ideal for these roles. Data management and product traceability become easier to manage with automated and validated manufacturing lines, enabling secure audit trails and compliance with the regulatory standards. The new norm In the post-Covid world, cleanliness and hygiene will take on a new significance in the workplace. While automated robotic sanitising in hospital environments is in early development, similar practices are likely to be adopted in manufacturing facilities. Additionally, the use of automated robotics in laboratories, as well as in warehousing and logistics, hold significant potential for improved efficiency and product traceability. Autonomous mobile robots will become common, not only in warehouses and logistics operations, but also in testing, sampling and media preparation. Robotic laboratories and seed laboratories hold significant potential for improved efficiency and product traceability. The critical finished goods manufacturing and supply chain has come under close scrutiny during this pandemic and the folly of relying on low-cost manufacturing in far- flung continents has come to the fore with serious shortages in finished goods and raw materials. Reshoring of manufacturing seems inevitable with the governments of many countries already issuing policy statements to that effect. Covid-19 is wreaking pain and suffering on our families, communities, health services and economies, but the impact does not stop there. Our entire way of doing business, working, communicating, commuting, socialising have already changed, and that is here to stay. n Recently, there has been an upsurge in the use of advanced automation and robotics in medical device manufacturing and, to a lesser extent, in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Brian Cooney, general manager of KUKA Robotics Ireland, predicts what the post-Covid-19 era will bring. Robots are already used for laboratory roles such as processing blood samples. In future, they could have many more applications in the medical and pharmaceutical sectors. (Photo: KUKA)