McKinsey & Company describes Industry 4.0 as the next phase in the digitization of the manufacturing sector that is being driven by four disruptions: the astonishing rise in data volumes, computational power and connectivity, especially new low-power wide-area networks; the emergence of analytics and business intelligence capabilities; the new forms of human-machine interaction, such as touch interfaces and augmented reality systems; and the improvements in transferring digital instructions to the physical world, such as advanced robotics and 3D printing.1
Smart and connected things and devices change how products are designed, made, used and maintained, and the impact of Industry 4.0 — as depicted in Figure 1 — can produce strong overall benefits for a business.
The life sciences industry lags in embracing Industry 4.0. This is mainly due to the perceived risks to product quality and patient safety related to implementing any change within its complex validated manufacturing environment(s).
Taking a structured approach to determining an organization’s maturity in digital manufacturing operations can be very helpful in moving forward. It starts with assessing the company’s capabilities based on its agility and capacity to produce and utilize meaningful insights. One approach is 5C, which addresses connectivity, concurrency, coordination, collaboration, and conformity.
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Not only can this reference framework help life sciences organizations with in-house manufacturing evaluate their as-is manufacturing environments and assess their digital maturity, but it can help them build a roadmap for successful Industry 4.0 transformation.
Now is the time for Life sciences manufacturing digital transformation
Current trends and the increasingly accelerating rate of change in the industry, as depicted in Figure 2, make it critical for life sciences organizations to insert practical innovation into their business processes and leverage the tremendous volume of data generated within their value chains. These companies must utilize advanced technologies to digitize end-to-end processes or risk competitive disadvantage in a world of collaboration within and across industry verticals.
Source: Hit Consultant