All Change for Manufacturers Post COVID-19?

Zenith Technologies, a Cognizant Company, explains how social distancing requirements to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, and the associated supply chain disruptions, have meant rapid and sudden challenges to manufacturing. 

COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the medical plastics industry. Single-use plastic, due to its disposable nature, has been important in the battle to contain the virus. This demand for plastic products looks set to continue.  According to MarketsandMarkets, the medical plastics market size is projected to grow from USD 25.1 billion in 2020 to USD 29.4 billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 17.2% during the forecast period.

At the same time, medical device products require some of the most complex, precise, and highly regulated processes in the manufacturing world. The social distancing requirements to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, and the associated supply chain disruptions, has meant rapid and sudden challenges to manufacturing. Here are four ways digital tools and processes can meet these emerging needs.   

Remote production support

Pandemic-related shutdowns have caused some manufacturers to reduce their on-site support staff by as much as 75%. Properly configuring and managing equipment, as well as verifying correct manufacturing processes, with only critical workers on-site, requires increased use of video conferencing, as well as artificial reality and virtual reality (AR & VR). Critical workers such as hands-on technical staff, are being trained to undertake verification and data gathering tasks differently to allow strictly clerical employees to work remotely.

However, the larger, more long-term challenge, is fully digitising the batch records that follow each production lot through each stage of the manufacturing process. Some of the needed data sits in enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms or within various production and test equipment. For less digitally enabled manufacturers, the full data set is rarely recorded in a historical database and is connected to by an overall manufacturing execution system (MES). That means some form of paper record must be created.  

With social distancing and more remote work, what used to be quick, person-to-person handling of verification paperwork may now require cumbersome and time-consuming printing, signing, scanning, and emailing.

The future of acceptance testing

Manufacturers regularly make significant investments in new production equipment and facilities as demand for drug production increases and the types of drugs being manufactured evolve. Such capital investments are poised to rise sharply as companies quickly ramp up for production of COVID-19 related treatments alongside their existing products, as well as new treatments in the development pipeline.

Factory acceptance tests (FAT) of such equipment were traditionally done in-situ at the manufacturer by members of its team. With today’s travel restrictions, manufacturers are moving to virtual FATs using video links, virtual documentation, and even AR & VR technologies. Remote configuration, validation and control of systems must also strike a fine balance between enabling robust remote access while keeping the network secure.

Driven in equal parts by the COVID pandemic-related travel restrictions and social distancing measures, we are seeing a significant uptake of virtual FAT processes that fully encompass collaboration, security, validation, and visual experience. We expect the trend toward adopting these efficient and cost-effective processes to continue after the pandemic eases.

Utilising technology to deliver COVID-secure environments

Those critical workers who are still on-site must be protected from contaminating each other as they make the most efficient use of expensive equipment in labs and production facilities that were not designed to enable social distancing.

Thermal cameras can be used to flag employees with higher than normal temperatures, denying them entry or requiring further testing. Bluetooth sensor-equipped soap dispensers, combined with motion-detectors in wristbands, can record if employees wash their hands with soap, and for the proper amount of time. Artificial intelligence and machine learning can also be used to eliminate false positives for employees whose temperatures usually run high and to refine the accuracy and effectiveness of social distancing measures.

The end of “just-in-time” production?

Pandemic-related production and distribution shutdowns have exposed the risk of global, “just-in-time” supply chains for the materials and components needed for products. Some countries have limited, or plan to limit, their exports of products or raw materials until their own needs are met.

Manufacturers are responding by reconfiguring supply chains to prioritise resiliency over efficiency and moving sourcing and production closer to the consumer. To enable this, manufacturers will need to move from centrally controlled procurement to giving site managers more visibility into and control over their immediate supply chains.

Summary

In the short- and medium term, digital technologies ranging from thermal cameras to wearable location monitors can help assure proper social distancing. Videoconferencing and AR/VR can minimise the number of employees who must be on-site.

In the long run, companies should speed up the adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) and platforms such as MES that enable full digitisation of the manufacturing process. By incorporating new technologies and work practices into their manufacturing plans, companies can run at full capacity while protecting their workforce and operating efficiently.