Rockwell Automation Scales Serialization Solution for Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Manufacturers

Rockwell Automation released its newly updated serialization solution, focused on applications where mandated serialization standards require pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers to adopt specified standards to track and trace products across their supply chains.  Beyond compliance, this newly released updated solution is also designed to help these manufacturers and OEMs achieve better KPIs, such as long-term profitability, with a more scalable, end-to-end supply-chain platform.

Built on the latest Rockwell Software PharmaSuite manufacturing execution system (MES) software, the new serialization solution v4.1 is designed to be more scalable to adapt to a wider variety of packaging-line technologies and production-management systems.  Integration across control and enterprise levels enables the solution to provide a centralized platform for managing serialization data and facilitates product traceability across the supply chain.

Integrating the new updated serialization solution v4.1 with Rockwell Automation’s Logix-based unit controller and FactoryTalk View HMI software enables additional scalability, allowing this solution to be applied to a variety of delivery models, ranging from full, turnkey solutions to retrofit and OEM solutions.  The unit controller acts as the connection point between each production line and various system devices.  Beyond providing serialization, the solution helps manufacturers to improve troubleshooting and proactive maintenance by providing direct visibility into the end-to-end process, ranging from production through distribution.

The new updated serialization solution includes a serialization integration gateway with preconfigured channels for order creation, and EPICS data exports to integrate into a customer’s system, both of which help to reduce upfront engineering costs.  The goal of Rockwell Automation is to build a library of pre-engineered gateway channels to help drive down costs and deployment of business systems integration.

Additionally, the platform is equipped with a manual serialization and aggregation workflow, which is a pre-validated tool for manufacturers with manual packaging lines.  According to the company, approximately 90 percent of the potential serialization customer base uses manual processes for handling unit aggregation and labeling.  The Rockwell Automation serialization solution provides an embedded label-design software for Windows driver printers and an aggregation workflow to help these customers with their manual aggregation process. 

Keywords: Connected Enterprise, Production Processes, Supply-Chain Platform, Serialization, ARC Advisory Group.