2009-11-06 - An ABB team has played a key role in defining the new OPC standard that will enable the process analyzers and control systems of different suppliers to be interoperable. The potential cost savings for the pharmaceutical and other process industries are huge.
By ABB Communications
The new standard for open connectivity between process analyzers and process control systems was formally approved in early October by the OPC Foundation, the automation industry’s independent organization for promoting interoperability between the control equipment of different vendors.
The lack of a standard interface for process analyzers has long prevented the pharmaceutical industry from adopting the latest process analytical technology (PAT), which would make the industry’s manufacturing processes more efficient and enable it to better meet the challenges posed by expiring patents and low-cost generic drugs.
Analyzers are used to measure and monitor the precise quantities of gases, liquids and solids in industrial processes like pharmaceuticals, chemical, refining, cement and power generation. The image shows ABB’s FTPA2000-300 industrial FT-IR spectrometer, which is used for on-line process monitoring in industries such as pharmaceuticals and petrochemicals.|
|
The PAT initiative was developed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure consistent product quality in pharmaceuticals. It requires that data from the process analyzers be communicated in real time to the process control system.
Currently, implementing a system that does this is difficult and time-consuming because analyzers from different vendors speak different languages. They tend to use proprietary software and can only communicate with the process control system after long and costly configuration procedures. The FDA is expected to make PAT mandatory within the next few years.
ABB initiative
ABB is a global leader in process analytics and process automation, and has long recognized the need for a standard interface between the devices and systems of different suppliers.
“The result is a win-win situation for all parties and a dramatic reduction in the cost of integration. It is also a giant step in accelerating widespread adoption of PAT.”
Claude Lafond
In 2008, ABB formed a team to initiate a standard and quickly won the backing of the OPC Foundation. A working group, comprising end users, analyzer vendors and PAT integrators, was created to define the standard and develop a reference implementation (software used to demonstrate that the standard can be implemented and is fit for purpose).
End users in particular have been very keen to create an industry standard and worked hard to bring the project to a successful conclusion. GlaxoSmithKline, Abbott, Pfizer, Novartis and Bristol-Myers Squibb were all actively involved in the process.
The working group was chaired by ABB software architect Voytek Janisz. Along with colleague Claude Lafond (also a software architect) and an ABB support team. The working group quickly produced a draft standard and reference implementation, which were approved by the OPC Foundation in October 2009.
“The potential benefits and cost savings for pharmaceutical companies and vendors alike really are huge,” says Janisz.
“With an OPC standard in place, end users will have access to all the key data elements necessary to integrate their control systems with the analyzers of different suppliers using the same interface. And vendors and integrators will not have to waste time and resources integrating the software of each other’s companies.”
“The result is a win-win situation for all parties and a dramatic reduction in the cost of integration, explains Lafond. “It is also a giant step in accelerating widespread adoption of PAT”
ABB has the widest range of process analyzers on the market and is the global leader in analytical products, systems and solutions for a broad range of industries.
Widespread interest
The benefits of the new standard are so timely and potentially so rewarding that other complex industries that use process analyzers are following developments very closely – the oil and gas, and cement industries in particular.
For its part, ABB has already announced that its platform for integrating analyzers, control systems, data historians and enterprise systems, will be compliant with the new standard by 2011.
The platform – known as Industrial IT eXtended Process Analytical Technology, or xPAT for short – already offers PAT functionality and is considered the most scalable and complete PAT solution on the market today. It is based on ABB’s award-winning automation platform, Extended Automation System 800xA, and is in operation at sites in Europe and North America.