The implementation of Process Analytical Technology (PAT) in the pharmaceutical industry has begun. Siemens has developed the SIMATIC SIPAT software to support this important trend. The result is improved process quality and a reduced risk of losing products because of non-conformity.

SIMATIC SIPAT provides a series of tools that support PAT in the development and production processes; for example, process analytics, and tools for process control and report generation. And it is able to interpret and link the data from these tools in an intelligent manner. SIMATIC SIPAT ensures complete data transparency starting with product development and feeds the correlated data back into the process. In addition, it allows reliable forecasts with which the quality and efficiency of the process can be continuously improved up to the level of the manufacturing execution system (MES), laboratory information management system (LIMS), and enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.  

The result is a production process that operates according to the right-first-time principle. Another advantage: online monitoring ensures that the process operates within the specifications and thus lowers costs. With SIPAT, pharmaceutical manufacturers can achieve a sound understanding of their processes and can release products faster based upon process data. In short, SIPAT enables companies to develop their processes further based on quality by design (QbD) and  right-first-time testing. System capacity utilization can be increased by about one-third and production costs can be by reduced by 10-20 percent after just a short time.