Pharmaceutical industry is forecast to spend $4.5 billion in digital transformation by 2030, the latest ABI Research report shows.
Digital factory revenue will top $4.5 billion in 2030 with spending by pharmaceutical manufacturers on data analytics forecast to grow by 27 percent CAGR and be worth $1.2 billion in 2030, as manufacturers look to track, optimize their operations, and boost productivity.
The industry’s competitive dynamics require pharmaceutical firms to optimize production lines to maximize yield for the time a drug is subject to patent protection. Contract manufacturers look to digital technologies to enable them to support clients simultaneously. After patents expire, generics manufacturers need to produce as many products as possible. The utilization of data analytics will support each type of manufacturer’s efforts to increase yield.
Moving from manufacturing drugs and vaccines in batches to optimizing the manufacturing process with continuous manufacturing will be critical to increasing yields. Pharma manufacturers will need to invest in analytics to help develop digital twins of their operations so that they can prepare their production lines for continuous manufacturing, says Michael Larner, Industrial and Manufacturing Principal Analyst at ABI Research.
Another digitization focus for pharmaceutical firms is to remove paper from their operations. Collecting and storing data via paper-based processes risks reducing productivity and increases the likelihood that errors happen on the production line due to administrative errors.
FDA 21 CFR Part 11 is one way the FDA is encouraging the adoption of digital technologies by publishing the criteria for submitting electronic records to the organization and the treatment of electronic signatures.
An example of advanced manufacturing facilities is Sanofi’s digitally-enabled, continuous manufacturing facility in Framingham, Massachusetts where all processes are paperless with plant operators using digital collaboration tools, data analytics, and Augmented Reality (AR) solutions so they can make decisions and adjustments in real-time.
Appian, COPA-DATA, Metastorm, and Metronik, and Neo PLM are among suppliers helping pharma manufacturers to move from the pre-digital stage to connecting their plants.
Emerson, Falkonry, Siemens, and Seeq provide solutions that support the production of drugs and medicines from the connected plant to being predictive and eventually adaptive.
