GE Healthcare and Rockwell Automation are combining their automation, IT and single-use solution expertise to build bioprocessing operations for the digital age.
The two companies will help biopharmaceutical companies create flexible and scalable facilities of the future, focused on rapid response to market demands, streamlined production technologies and adaptable manufacturing environments.
For GE Healthcare, Kevin Seaver, Executive General Manager, Bioprocess Automation and Digital, commented: “As GE Healthcare and the healthcare ecosystem move toward precision health, flexible and scalable solutions are critical for companies to efficiently manufacture smaller batches of tailored medicines. Our collaboration with Rockwell Automation is an integral part of our strategy to confirm we deliver innovative solutions that meet the needs of the biopharma 4.0 era.”
GE Healthcare has also joined the Rockwell Automation PartnerNetwork Program as an OEM Partner to help drive a best-in-class distributed control system offering.
Fran Wlodarczyk, senior vice president, Architecture and Software, Rockwell Automation, said: “The facility of the future reimagines what’s possible in the production of biopharmaceuticals. It uses connectivity, information, and modular equipment to create smaller-scale, more efficient operations.
"As GE Healthcare becomes a member of our PartnerNetwork program, our joint work will help GE Healthcare bring the Connected Enterprise to life, so they can meet demands for more targeted drugs and get products to market faster.”
The partnership offers companies greater efficiency with GE's FlexFactory single-use equipment integrated with Figurate bioprocess automation, a platform that improves reproducibility, repeatability and compliance.
The combined technology allows digitising batch files and processes to reduce review times by weeks and even achieve real-time reviews. And help deliver instructions to workers with augmented reality to improve batch execution, operations, equipment setup and training.
Automation improves operational efficiency with reduced production risk and streamlines workflows resulting in faster times to market.
For GE Healthcare, this collaboration leverages the combined expertise in single-use bioprocessing with deep automation and IT knowledge to turn data insights into productive outcomes.
