A bioprocess control system update facilitated by ILS helped a leading manufacturer of USDA-licensed biologicals for animals improve batch consistency and provide reporting features required by their customers.
ILS Automation, a bioprocess control and systems integrator, worked with a US-based animal health pharmaceutical manufacturer to overhaul their control system, allowing them to reuse existing bioreactor equipment and to improve their laboratory’s batch consistency and process documentation capabilities.
The Challenge: Existing Bioprocess Control System
The pharmaceutical manufacturer had a 30-year-old 800 liter microbial steam-in-place (SIP) reactor and its original control system at their facility that had gone unused for over a year. The reactor was mechanically sound but rendered useless due to an obsolete controller.
The Solution
Replacement Controller
Rather than purchase a new vessel and controller system at a cost of over $1 million, they chose to have ILS Automation provide a new controller for a fraction of the cost.
ILS provided the manufacturer with their AFC 2000 semi-custom bioreactor controller. The controller was built into the reactor’s existing cabinetry, allowing them to reuse their existing equipment and providing a process control solution that met their needs.
Process Control Software
As a contract manufacturing facility, they are required to provide full documentation and data logs for their customers’ production runs. They chose to implement Batch Expert+ (BE+), a real-time supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system from ILS Automation to meet their documentation obligations.
BE+ is a state-of-the-art, web-based package built on Inductive Automation‘s Ignition platform that provides a platform for growth. It can accommodate the complete facility, including multiple brands of reactors, separation units, chiller/freezer monitoring, supervisory control, trending, alarming, and batch reporting.
“I got exactly what I wanted,” states the manufacturer’s department supervisor.
To learn more about this customer’s semi-custom bioprocess control system, visit the full case study page.
