When you’re running one of the largest aspirin plants in South America, it’s handy to know for sure that you’re using the correct materials in your batch. With process integration, the Bayer AG plant in Pilar, Argentina, now gets accurate data on this critical information. The company runs plant data from its manufacturing execution system (MES) provided by Zurich-based ABB, into its enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.
The real-time data on inventory and material used comes straight up from the plant floor to the enterprise system. “We are now certain of the quantities used and produced,” says Carlos Garcia, Bayer’s technical operations manager at the Pilar plant. As well as running production data, the integration also traces inventory used in each batch, an important data element in the highly regulated pharmaceutical industry.
Data accuracy was another big benefit of the integration. Prior to the integration, Bayer used two monitors at each plant station, one for the ERP and one for the MES. Data was transferred manually, carrying errors along the way. “In the last two years [since the integration] there has not been one batch rejection,” says Garcia. “Most rejections were due to human error. The integrated system has removed the possibility of errors.”
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