Emerson Process Management’s plant-wide wireless network is helping to improve maintenance and operator efficiency – and increase plant flexibility – within the Novartis biotech production centre at Huningue, in the north-east of France. Emerson’s DeltaV digital automation system, with its fully integrated Wi-Fi network and mobile operator stations, provides process and plant information to operators and maintenance staff throughout the facility. The new wireless network is also improving the flexibility of the control system whenever it is necessary to adjust a product recipe.
Novartis, one of the largest and most widely respected pharmaceutical companies in the world, employs over 300 people at Huningue, where it produces the active ingredient for Xolair, a drug used to treat moderate-to-severe persistent asthma, as well as several monoclonal antibodies and an immunosuppressant. Xolair is derived from genetically modified mammalian cells that are cultivated in a laboratory before being fermented in various bioreactors.
Localised control is essential to the efficient management of the process, which is spread over three production levels as well as being geographically dispersed. Novartis implemented a distributed architecture for this purpose, based on Emerson’s DeltaV system. This enabled operator stations to be located near the main parts of the process, such as the bioreactors and tanks. To further maximise operator efficiency, Novartis recognised the need for a control architecture that allows its operators to be fully mobile.
Novartis is a pioneer when it comes to implementing new technology and has been using wireless since the year 2000. In 2008, when migrating to Version 9 of DeltaV, the company benefitted from several developments including integrated Wi-Fi and wireless security. In 2009, Novartis expanded the wireless architecture with additional Wi-Fi access points, achieving a complete mobile wireless solution with the DeltaV system.
Novartis has meanwhile installed a wireless network with coverage on all three production levels using ten Wi-Fi access points. The network includes 17 mobile operator stations and 100 DeltaV controllers, spread over two systems. The first system controls the upstream process of cell cultivation and harvesting, while the second is responsible for the downstream phase of purification and freezing. Both systems will soon be interconnected using Emerson’s DeltaV Zone, a software and hardware solution for connecting two systems.
From one level to another
The mobile operator stations provide Novartis with complete flexibility to control its manufacturing processes. To meet the standards required for sterile zones C & D, these stations have a stainless steel enclo-sure that houses the central processing unit (CPU). The devices are equipped with a USB connection to the usual keyboard, monitor and trackball for this type of environment and are linked up to the network of Wi-Fi access points.
Operators can move from one level to another with their mobile stations yet still maintain an overview of the process. This has not only significantly improved operator efficiency but has also made it possible to halve the number of workstations required. There have likewise been efficiency improvements in the area of plant maintenance. For example, by using a mobile workstation, it is now possible for just one person to calibrate the instruments when previously this would have required two. If one of the workstations develops a fault, there is no longer any need to shut down a process whilst the station is fixed or replaced. The flexibility offered by the wireless network and the mobile workstations provides a perfect back-up system. A further benefit is that when a new product is launched or a recipe changed, the mobile stations can be moved throughout the plant as required, eliminating the need to install new operator stations.
The benefits of the DeltaV system coupled with the wireless architecture have helped Novartis diversify production, making the transition from a single-chain product, such as Xolair, to multi-chain products such as monoclonal antibodies and immunosuppressives.
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