Capacity Planning / Production Scheduling within the Pharmaceutical Industry
Production Modelling’s Orchestrate scheduling software is well established in the process industry and users in the pharmaceutical industry have been highly successful in deploying it.
Orchestrate helps with two aspects of work where purpose built tools are thin on the ground. Firstly it provides the process engineer with an easy to use tool for capacity analysis. Secondly having invested time and money in designing the plant, the same Orchestrate model can be used for day to day production scheduling and planning.
Orchestrate has been equally successful as part of a plant design programme and as part of a programme to identify and remove bottlenecks from existing, well established plant.
One of the world’s largest biopharmaceutical capital investments - Pfizer BioPharma Campus, West Dublin
Reduce Time To Market
Much has been written about process knowledge management as a means to accelerate time to market. In summary, if we can use the same data at the design stage, pilot stage and the commercial production stage then there are efficiencies to be gained. Orchestrate extends this argument by providing a common dataset and interface for each stage of production. With Orchestrate scheduling software we can run the plant using the very same assumptions and constraints that have been used at the design stage.
A spin off is that Orchestrate can hold process templates for particular products and processes. Thus the company’s intellectual property can be reused for new products and plants. In effect we do not reinvent the wheel each time we use it. So by using Orchestrate for plant design, modification and day to day planning, we can accelerate the plant design process and thereby decrease the time to market.
Example Process Recipe
Increase Productivity
Orchestrate’s planning functionality offers a step change in productivity. Many companies are still using a variety of spreadsheets to plan production on a daily basis. They may have complicated macros, or users may be using coloured squares to represent batches moving through the process plant. In either case this can be very time-consuming and heavily reliant on a single expert user. Whilst facilitating the creation of some kind of a plan, they do not give planners or managers the clear, simple visibility needed to make optimum decisions quickly on a day-to-day basis! As a consequence vessels may exceed their hold time and require re-cleaning; batches may be lost due to hold time violations.
Orchestrate scheduling software offers a practical alternative to planning on spreadsheets and is the result of our vision to develop an easy-to-use software system that excels in providing a flexible solution to the broadest range of planning and scheduling related problems. It provides you with all the clear, well-presented information you need to make good and timely planning decisions.
Orchestrate Gantt Chart
Orchestrate is Easy To Use and Fast to Implement
Process Engineers traditionally use recipes to map out the steps of a manufacturing process. The great news is that Orchestrate also uses recipes to map out the steps of a manufacturing process. This means that Process Engineers can use Orchestrate with a minimum of training. You can even copy and paste the process steps into Orchestrate’s spreadsheet style data entry grids. Orchestrate’s data entry is familiar and easy to do.
Once the data is in, you can add batches to the plan simply by clicking the “Add to Plan” button. The Orchestrate Gantt chart is clear and uncluttered so that everyone can understand the plan. In addition you can see informative graphs and charts to show you a wide range of performance metrics. Examples include
- Labour and Equipment utilizations
- Utility requirements
- On Time delivery performance
- Material expiration
- Work In progress
- Cost analysis
“Orchestrate has proven invaluable in understanding the dynamics of how the different parts of the organisation interact together," says one client
"The software is used right across and at various levels of our organisation, from strategic long term capacity planning to everyday operational planning and scheduling."
Orchestrate Application Areas include
- Planning the supply network
- Cell Culture
- Purification
- .Syringe Fill / Finish
- Tablet Manufacture
- Filling Line / Packaging
- Raw Material Dispense
- Component Manufacture
- Activation
- Media and Buffer Prep
- Raw Materials Dispense
- QA/QC Labs
Link with Existing Systems
Most companies already have a variety of validated systems such as SAP, LIMS, DeltaV and Weigh and Dispense Systems. These are excellent at tracking and current status of material and operations through the manufacturing cycle. However they rarely include the constraints such as trained personnel, equipment and cycle times that need to be considered to execute a work plan in a timely manner. In short the weakness with existing systems amounts to finite capacity scheduling and that can be bridged with Orchestrate.
One customer says:
“Orchestrate has been successful in bridging the gap between existing systems and providing feasible robust schedules to supervisors and managers to expedite their respective tasks.”
Longer term, we believe integrated finite schedules will improve our performance, reduce variability and aid overall cycle time improvements
Feedback from the Factory
In many companies, Orchestrate is live in the manufacturing suite. The plan can be shown on a smart board. We can show SAP order numbers and material codes on the plan. When tasks are completed, the supervisor simply clicks a button to update progress.
A Wealth of Experience
Production Modelling is an established leader in simulation, planning, and scheduling software. We have been established since 1991 and have worked with a wide range of companies on an equally wide range of processes.
Orchestrate is based on our vision to develop a software system that excels in providing flexible software solutions for planning and scheduling issues. It is backed up first class service and support. We can offer a variety of options. For example:
We can train you to use the software. We can implement the software for you. We can work alongside you and can become part of your design project team.
Contact us and discuss how you would like to work.
