Extended co-operation agreement to benefit Sartorius customers

Agreement will enable customers to achieve easier scalability of processes ranging from lab-scale to commercial-scale production of biopharmaceuticals.

SSB has, for some time, already been using established Siemens automation solutions for process control in its large-scale bioreactor and filtration systems. To standardize its own product portfolio even further, SSB will introduce a new, configurable automation system for its range of systems. Under the agreement, co-operation between the two companies will, therefore, be extended to further SSB products. These will be successively equipped with Siemens automated solutions in the coming months and can thus be integrated into process control systems, such as Simatic PCS 7 and Simatic Batch. Essentially, such SSB products are single-use bioreactors of the BIOSTAT STR series, various filtration systems and the FlexAct system. The latter is a flexible module that is used to control many different process steps within biopharmaceutical production.

“By introducing this new automation platform and further standardizing our products, we are making it easy for our customers to integrate their systems into higher-level automation solutions, such as SCADA, MES or ERP. At the same time, we are enabling them to achieve easier scalability of processes ranging from lab scale to commercial-scale production,” explained Dr Oscar-Werner Reif, Chief Technology Officer at SSB. “We have found an ideal partner in Siemens as one of the leading companies in automation,” continued Dr Reif.

Eckard Eberle, CEO of the Siemens Process Automation business unit, commented: “We are happy to support Sartorius Stedim Biotech with our unique and cohesive portfolio consisting of hardware, software and service throughout the entire system lifecycle. Based on our cooperation, users in the biopharmaceutical industry stand to benefit from higher efficiency, quality and flexibility, as well as faster time-to-market.”

During this year’s ACHEMA trade show that will be taking place from June 11 to June 15, 2018, in Frankfurt, Germany, Siemens and Sartorius Stedim Biotech will be jointly presenting the FlexAct module, a first product based on the new automation platform. Visitors and all others interested are cordially invited to obtain first-hand information at the Siemens AG booth in Hall 11/C3. A presentation on this product will be held in German on June 12 at 1:30 pm. and in English on June 13 at 1:00 p.m. and on 14 June at 2:00 pm.