Automated pharmaceuticals manufacturing

A project to automate the manufacture of bulk liquid pharmaceuticals was the drive behind the initial phase implementation of the integrated system described. The production plant consists of bulk raw materials storage tanks, manufacturing and support vessels, final product storage tanks and a clean-in-place (CIP) fluid preparation plant. In addition the production area is supplied from purified (demineralised) water loop main as well as other services such as steam and compressed air. The batch production process consists of tansfers of measured quantities of bulk materials into the manufacturing vessels, dissolving of active ingredients and others in this vessel by heating, mixing and homogenisation. The finished product is then transferred to storage until it can be bottled. The manufacturing system, thus derived, consists of 3 PLCs monitoring and controlling the 3 functionally different sections of the plant and a SCADA package to allow for a menu based operator interface