New York, April 27, 2007 – ABB announced its latest process analytical technology (PAT) solution for the Life Sciences industry, IndustrialIT for PAT. This product combines process data collection and analysis with traditional process control and data management functions to produce a complete PAT solution in a single system. "ABB's Industrial IT for PAT is a powerful, fully integrated PAT solution," said Maurice Wilkins, VP Consulting for ARC. "The flexibility and architecture of ABB's product allows customers to easily integrate it into new or existing processes to achieve the benefits that have been promised by PAT."
Built on the same technology foundation as System 800xA Extended Automation, ABB's Industrial IT for PAT provides manufacturing customers with a way to access and examine online, real-time process data directly from the manufacturing operation. This configurable, windows-based system collects data from ABB and/or third-party vendor's analytical instruments, analyzes the data to determine the actual condition of the process, then passes the resulting information to the control system. The control system adjusts the control outputs based on this information to improve the process efficiency and product quality.
The FDA and industry groups have promoted the benefits of PAT since 2003, when the FDA released the draft version of its guidance "PAT - A Framework for Innovative Pharmaceutical Manufacturing and Quality Assurance." However, PAT's adoption by Life Sciences industry customers has been slowed by a lack of technology that effectively and reliably integrates the analytical measurement results into the automated process controllers. Now, ABB's Industrial IT for PAT fills this technological gap. ABB's PAT integration abilities, data collection capabilities and application flexibility have been combined to provide Life Sciences customers with the system that they need to successfully implement PAT at their facilities.
ABB's approach allows implementing PAT on new or existing processes without incurring the cost and effort of developing a separate interface for each part of the PAT system. Another cost and time saving feature of the system is that the applications created with Industrial IT for PAT are portable, reusable, and can be implemented to control non-ABB, third-party systems and analytical instruments located anywhere in the customer's company. Industrial IT for PAT is a scalable solution that allows methods and controls developed and proven in the laboratory to be reused in the production facility. Solutions that are applied to a single process unit can be seamlessly scaled up to measure and control multiple process units.
This scalability saves time when developing a new process or expanding an existing process. Most facilities use equipment from multiple vendors and of different vintages, creating problems when trying to integrate this equipment into their PAT solution. Industrial IT for PAT's capability to integrate and analyze information from these types of systems gives it a powerful competitive advantage that allows improving the processes operating on older or diverse systems. "ABB is committed to providing Life Sciences industry customers with the solutions they need to be more productive and competitive," said John Quirke, ABB Industry Manager for Chemical and Life Sciences, North America.
"Industrial IT for PAT is built upon the same robust technology foundation that has been delivering productivity results to our customers for years. This provides our customers with the ability to implement a PAT solution into their processes so that they can realize the economic and quality benefits of Process Analytical Technology." ABB also supplies the engineering expertise required to take advantage of the FDA's PAT initiative.
With services that can identify the benefits of utilizing PAT, validate the PAT installation and expertly integrate the departments involved in PAT, i.e. quality assurance, validation, engineering and manufacturing, ABB can maximize the benefits of a PAT installation at the customer sites. ABB is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 108,000 people.