Liquid pharmaceuticals in the digital age

"Our Pharmatag 2019 was again a complete success," said Dr Alexander Giehl, who took over the position of site manager at Bosch Packaging Technology in Craisheim on 1 April. (Picture: Bosch)

Inspiration, innovation and technical highlights from Bosch Packaging Technolgy's Pharmatag 2019.

"Our Pharmatag 2019 was again a great success," said the new Crailsheim site manager Dr Alexander Giehl. "We presented our guests with an exciting mixture of classic special machinery and innovative, digital technologies that distinguish Bosch Packaging Technology and the Crailsheim location – and will continue to do so in the future".

Plant tour of innovations

During the plant tour on the first day of the event, the participants looked behind the scenes of production in Crailsheim. They were able to experience both established machine concepts and individual customer projects in action. These included an integrated concept of the ALF 5000 filling and closing machine with isolator for the aseptic filling of highly potent products. Bosch also presented a line developed together with a leading pharmaceutical manufacturer, including an integrated robot for the precise and safe filling of biopharmaceuticals. Also on display: the Pharma i 4.0 Starter Edition, which visualizes production data live and in real time. The data collected with the software can be evaluated and provides the basis for process optimization.

"With our broad portfolio, we cover the entire life cycle of pharmaceuticals and machines," emphasized Uwe Harbauer, member of the Board of Management of Robert Bosch Packaging Technology GmbH and head of the Pharma division in his speech at the evening kick-off event. "Our goal is to support our customers in their daily challenges in the best possible way. To this end, we are not only expanding our portfolio in the high-performance range and for the flexible processing of small batches. At this year's Pharmatag, we also showed that we are moving into the next era with visionary technologies, innovative services and digital solutions together with our customers."

Interactive expert symposium

A special highlight of the symposium on 22 May at the new Carmen Würth Forum in Künzelsau was the keynote speech by Ranga Yogeshwar. The renowned graduate physicist, business journalist and television presenter dealt with central topics such as digitization, artificial intelligence and the relationship between man and machine – topics that are also increasingly important to the pharmaceutical world. Accordingly, the symposium was also characterized by digital interaction: the Crailsheim employees watched Ranga Yogeshwar's presentation on a large screen, while the symposium participants were able to look directly into the machines at the Crailsheim plant via live data transmission.

True to the motto of the event "Expertise for the perfect flow", the symposium, moderated by Dr Charlotte Enghave Fruergaard of NNE, once again provided important industry impulses: four current case studies from customers all over the world highlighted aseptic filling with RABS, new technologies for the production of antibody drug conjugates (ADC) and the successful transfer of a concept study to the production of drugs for children with cancer. The symposium was complemented by 200 m2 of exhibition space, where participants were able to find out about both special topics and visionary future technologies. "The intensive personal exchange among the participants shows how important events such as the Crailsheim Pharmatag are for our industry," says Alexander Giehl.