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Preparing Food and Pharma for the Challenges Ahead

The ISA’s FPID symposium aims to help manufacturers understand the urgent issues that must be addressed within the next few years.

The ISA’s FPID symposium aims to help manufacturers understand the urgent issues that must be addressed within the next few years.
The ISA’s FPID symposium aims to help manufacturers understand the urgent issues that must be addressed within the next few years.

This month, the International Society of Automation (ISA) will conduct its third annual Food and Pharmaceutical Industries Division (FPID) symposium focused on the technology and innovation required to meet global demands in these manufacturing segments. Specifically, the meeting will address increasing regulations, how to control manufacturing costs, dealing with and preparing for cybersecurity threats, and more.

This year also marks the first year that the FPID symposium will be held outside of the U.S., in Cork, Ireland—an acknowledgement of Ireland’s growing biotech industry.

“I spent three years in Cork working with Eli Lilly and building a big biotech facility there, so that’s why I felt it was a place we need to go,” says Andre Michel, President at Efficient Plant and ISA’s FPID Division Director.

Michel knows firsthand that as biotech plants expand and evolve, so must the automation underneath it all. Whether it is moving to continuous processing or updating existing batch processes to adopt more data rich and reliable operations, these companies must embrace new technology and techniques that will move them gracefully through the imminent industry disruption.

“Pharmaceutical companies have different challenges in automation than other industries,” Michel says. “That’s why the main thing we want to do at FPID is provide our membership with the things they won’t find anywhere else.” Specifically, knowledge about the unique hurdles in pharma, like, for example, how to prevent contamination of bio products, which, if you lose a batch, could be worth $1 million.

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