Merck trials process software
Discoverant software in two of its manufacturing plants to assess
its impact on process performance and productivity.
US drug major Merck & Co is conducting a pilot evaluation of Aegis's Discoverant software system in two pharmaceutical manufacturing plants to assess its impact on manufacturing process performance and productivity.
Discoverant is an enterprise performance management software system targeted at pharmaceutical and biotech companies and is designed to help reduce the time required to monitor manufacturing processes, identify potential problems, determine causes and take corrective action. The package's graphical and statistical tools also have the capability to enable exploratory analysis of manufacturing data to identify opportunities for quality, yield and productivity improvement, according to Aegis.
The company claims that Discoverant "offers the industry's only solution that provides a unified view of the manufacturing process to identify areas where operating efficiencies can be improved."
"By integrating multiple data sources, Discoverant's direct point-and-click access to data across a company's manufacturing processes speeds information into decision-makers' hands, enabling them to rapidly make data-intensive decisions without replacing existing systems."
Aegis said that the software can reduce start-up runs and start-up costs and improve time-to-market by allowing companies to more fully characterise a process early in the life cycle. This means that fewer start-up runs are required before process stability is achieved.
Other advantages include a reduction in raw material and product inventory, preventing product shortages and reducing costs, as well as shorten batch release time and reduce the impact of adverse process trends, sudden specification failures and the risk of a costly plant shut-down.
