Industrial IT eXtended process automation technology

ABB’s next generation PAT application leverages its System 800xA environment to simplify engineering and integration with enterprise systems.

The latest generation of ABB’s PAT solutions, Industrial IT eXtended Process Automation Technology (xPAT), provides simplified engineering and streamlined integration with enterprise systems, as well as broad connectivity to a host of analyzers to help customers achieve continuous process improvement, real-time product release and Quality by Design. (QbD).

“This new release underscores our ongoing commitment to helping our customers realize the full operational and quality benefits available from implementing PAT in their manufacturing process,” said Thomas Buijs, ABB Product Marketing Manager. “xPAT delivers the ease of use and integration benefits resident in the 800xA architecture to provide the industry’s most complete and easy to use PAT solution.”

About PAT
As a leading-edge quality control concept in the biopharma industries, PAT has increasingly gained worldwide acceptance by many industry experts as a proven method of ensuring product safety and quality. It promotes the integration of analytical measurements into the manufacturing process to streamline and improve new product development as well as improve the quality and ensure the safety of the end product.

With its powerful integration capabilities and functionality, xPAT helps life science industry customers implement QbD throughout the entire pharmaceutical product lifecycle, from drug discovery through development to production.

ABB’s PAT Solution
ABB’s xPAT combines process data collection and analysis with traditional process control and data management functions to produce a complete PAT solution in a single system. It is a configurable, Windows-based system. This standalone product is designed for use with any process automation solution, including System 800xA, as well as non-ABB DCS systems. It provides ease of engineering through one standard system interface and a designated PAT engineering workplace.

It also leverages System 800xA’s integration capability to interface with external systems and applications throughout the manufacturing enterprise, such as LIMS, MES and other vital systems for real-time access to information from all points in the manufacturing process. This integration capability provides expanded modeling functionality with modeling tools at the analyzer, unit operation and process levels, including support for batch modeling and integration of the Umetrics SBOL (SIMCA-Batch On-Line) batch monitoring tool.

xPAT provides additional analyzer support, enhanced visualization, advanced data mining and analysis capabilities to make it an even more powerful and scalable process solution.

Through implementation of xPAT, ABB helps you address your business needs:
  ■  Identify key ROI opportunities
  ■  Reduce time to market
  ■  Decrease production costs
  ■  Reduce Capital Expenditure (CapEx) costs
  ■  Increase production flexibility
  ■  Enable real-time product release

xPAT Supports the Entire Product Lifecycle
ABB’s Industrial IT solutions for PAT and automation are applicable to the complete product lifecycle - from development, through scale up to manufacturing. Through the use of Aspect ObjectTM technology, ABB provides an integrated environment for ease of engineering, data and process visualization, data management, multivariate advanced statistical process control and enterprise connectivity. Interoperability with analyzers is assured by a common configurator and industry standard analyzer interfaces based on OPC UA technology. These technologies together enable better process understanding, leading to increased innovation during manufacturing and optimization.

Seamless Scalability from Development to Manufacturing
xPAT integrates analytical and automation products in a flexible and scalable platform. It provides a single configuration for multi-vendor analytical instrumentation, data acquisition and central storage of all analyzer and process related data.

Data Management, Visualization and Advanced Control
The PAT data management and control platform allows users to manage analyzer control parameters, store analyzer data and perform multivariate data analysis for process monitoring and process control.

Enterprise Connectivity and Productivity Tools
ABB’s Industrial IT cpmPlus Enterprise Connectivity (ECS) bridges the vertical integration gap between business and manufacturing systems, delivering significant new opportunities to increase productivity.

ABB’s SmartClient provides intelligent data access and viewing functions to assist all levels of personnel in making quick, informed decisions and taking the appropriate action, thereby improving performance.

ABB’s Real-Time Production Intelligence (Real-TPI), is a real-time performance measurement and analysis software program that improves plant productivity by identifying ways to increase OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness). ECS and SmartClient reduce the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for integration of ERP and Plant systems by using a standard product for all vertical integrations, rather than a custom developed, point-to-point solution.

Industry Standard Analyzer Interfaces
Analyzer integration for PAT presents a unique set of challenges. There is a large variety of analyzers, provided by multiple vendors, which provides many different types of critical data. The best way to accomplish the level of analyzer integration required for PAT is through broadly-adopted open standards.

ABB actively supports the adoption of the OPC-ADI (Analyzer Device Integration) standard and has announced plans to release products against the specification.

Know Your Process – Measure It
Lord Kelvin, the great 19th-century physicist said, “When you can measure what you’re speaking about and express it in numbers, you know something about it; when you cannot measure it … your knowledge is meager and unsatisfactory.”

This is still true today. ABB analyzers measure what is happening in situ. ABB’s PAT solution helps you manage, interpret and act on the resulting data, turning it into actionable knowledge to enhance production and ultimately, the quality of your product.

Comprehensive Analyzer Coverage
ABB Analytical designs, manufactures and markets high performance, affordable FTIR and FTNIR spectrometers as well as turnkey analytical solutions and spectroradiometers for remote sensing. ABB Analytical capabilities encompass one of the largest portfolios in the world for laboratory, at-line and process FTIR analyzers. They perform real-time analysis of the chemical composition and/or physical properties of a process sample stream. ABB analyzers are low-drift, for highly repeatable measurements. They are also reproducible, to allow calibration transfer.

Learn more at: www.abb.com/lifesciences or email us at: pharmaceutical.info@us.abb.com.

Contact details:
Mike Heatherman
Global Life Sciences Manager
T: +1.440.585.8674
E: mike.heatherman@us.abb.com

Dennis McKinley
Life Sciences Sales Manager, North America
T: +1.919.870.1915
E: dennis.mckinley@us.abb.com

Daniel Keogh
Life Sciences Sales Manager, Europe
T: +1.353.140.57300
E: daniel.keogh@ie.abb.com