Plug and Play standardisation for the biopharmaceutical industry

One of its current technology projects, Plug and Play, is focused on developing automation standardisation within the industry.

We were delighted to host the Plug and Play software Proof of Concept test at our Southampton office recently. The test saw Process Control System suppliers successfully operating two steps of a bioreactor process on equipment from 3 different suppliers, using a common parameter definition and on the same network.

Watch a video of the test day on the Biophorum website

According to Keith Morris, Automation SME with PM Group; “Plug and Play is seeing key players in industry collaborating to develop a standard for the interface between autonomous biopharma skids and supervisory control systems. The aim is to allow the interchangeable use of equipment skids from different manufacturers, bringing significant reductions in design, build and validation times for the interfaces.” 

The Plug and Play project team will finalise and publish a first version of the standard in 2019 and move to implementation in 2020. “We look forward to continuing PM Group’s active membership of the Plug and Play initiative, ensuring that we are well placed to support the design of new facilities that want to take advantage of the standard in the future”, says Keith.