ABB India has clinched a breakthrough contract from Reliance Life Sciences (RLS) to provide automation and control solutions for their forthcoming biosimilars and plasma proteins manufacturing facilities in Nashik, Maharashtra.
With a sprawling 160-acre site, RLS aims to establish manufacturing plants for biopharmaceuticals, plasma proteins, oncology pharmaceuticals, and vaccines. These complex biotechnology processes require stringent regulatory adherence to ensure product quality, a challenge that ABB’s flagship Distributed Control System (DCS) Ability™ System 800xA is primed to address. This cutting-edge solution minimises manufacturing errors and enhances yields, seamlessly interacting with various skid systems while facilitating operator interaction, batch control, and production information dissemination on the factory floor.
G. Balaji, Senior Vice President and Head of Energy Industries at ABB India, stated, “This collaboration will reinforce our position in the pharma and life sciences market, where we see tremendous potential for growth and innovation. With India emerging as a prominent biopharmaceutical manufacturing hub, we are poised to ride the wave of the industrial revolution driven by automation, vital for large-scale production with quality assurance.”
Virtualization will be harnessed for the implementation of System 800xA® at RLS, a strategy offering cost and operational advantages by simplifying server management and maintenance. The system will be deployed on the latest Windows Server 2022 platform, ensuring extended lifecycle support and robust software management, thereby averting plant shutdowns for software updates and lowering associated costs. ABB’s multichannel remote I/O solutions will streamline data communication, declutter the hardware footprint, enhance space utilisation, and expedite project execution.
The DCS will be supplied in compliance with US FDA 21 CFR Part 11 standards, in line with the pharmaceutical nature of the manufacturing unit. ABB’s renowned expertise in delivering high-end DCS solutions to prominent pharma firms in India is further underscored by their 23rd consecutive year ranking as the world’s top DCS provider, according to the ARC Advisory Group’s 2021 report.
Alongside the DCS deployment, RLS will embrace ABB’s modular remote I/O solution, offering flexibility and a plug-and-play approach to automation. This will expedite commissioning, process implementation, and future plant capacity scaling.
Reliance Life Sciences, already a key player in India’s biosimilar market, is further expanding its facilities to produce high-quality biosimilars at an affordable cost. By partnering with ABB, RLS aims to achieve operational excellence, accelerate time to market, and maintain strict quality control over its biopharmaceutical manufacturing processes.
ABB’s Process Automation division pioneers electrification, automation, and digitalization of industrial operations, catering to a broad spectrum of essential needs from energy supply to goods production. Comprising around 20,000 professionals, ABB Process Automation empowers industries to enhance performance and safety, ultimately contributing to a more resource-efficient and sustainable future.
ABB, a front-runner in electrification and automation technology, endeavors to create a more sustainable future by connecting engineering expertise and software to optimize various industrial aspects. With over a century of excellence, ABB’s 105,000-strong workforce drives innovations that expedite industrial transformation, driving progress in various sectors.
