GE Healthcare Life Sciences and Emerson team up to drive biopharma manufacturing efficiency
Will integrate Emerson’s DeltaV distributed control system with GE’s technologies for the manufacture of monoclonal antibodies, vaccines and other biologics
GE Healthcare’s Life Sciences business and Emerson Process Management are to collaborate with the aim of increasing productivity and improving efficiency in the production of biopharmaceuticals such as monoclonal antibodies and vaccines.
The two companies will integrate Emerson’s DeltaV distributed control system with GE Healthcare’s enterprise offerings and start-to-finish technologies for the global biomanufacturing industry. The first DeltaV-driven GE Healthcare installation, which is expected to be completed before the end of the year, will be a FlexFactory, GE’s integrated manufacturing platform based on single-use technologies.
GE’s portfolio of single-use bioprocessing technologies already allows manufacturers to reduce set-up times and increase manufacturing flexibility.
Emerson’s DeltaV system, which uses predictive technologies to connect people, processes and production, enables remote monitoring and control from multiple locations across a company’s network and is already widely used in the pharmaceutical industry. The DeltaV system will be offered as an automation control platform for GE’s single-use bioprocessing offerings.
Emmanuel Ligner, Global Commercial Manager, BioProcess, GE Healthcare Life Sciences, said: 'Healthcare providers and the biopharmaceutical industry are facing enormous pressures. Emerson and GE share a vision that an integrated and automated approach to manufacturing has the potential to help drive improvements in production efficiency of these life-saving medicines. This collaboration with Emerson, combined with our depth and breadth of expertise in start-to-finish technologies for bioprocessing, promises to bring real benefits to our customers and to healthcare providers worldwide.'
Jerry Brown, Senior Vice President of Industry Solutions for Emerson Process Management, said: 'We believe that the combination of Emerson’s automation technologies and the GE FlexFactory will offer superior process performance, consistency of product, and reduced validation time.'
