Retrofit of pharmaceutical installations

Egemin Automation can help you get the most from your earlier investments with upgrades, migrations and reconstruction or adaptation (retrofit) of old or outdated sections of your installation.

When to adapt?

How do you know when it is time to adapt or migrate your installation? The following factors should be considered:

• Parts of your installation are obsolete
• Your installation becomes less reliable
• Long downtimes occur more often
• The capacity of your production system drops
• The maintenance cost rises considerably
• There is not enough specific knowledge about your older systems
• The user interface does not meet current standards
• The automation systems do not meet the GMP regulations
• The installation does not meet strict safety norms

Extending life span

Automation systems have their own life cycles. Some parts and software become outdated at a certain time, or are no longer available. Then it becomes difficult or impossible to maintain the system. Reserve parts and expertise become expensive and hard to find. So you risk operational interruptions and require increased efforts for maintenance.

Egemin Automation advises customers to anticipate these types of problems by reconstructing, migrating or upgrading your installation in good time. More and more companies are following this advice. The costs of adapting an existing system are recovered sooner than having a new system installed and in addition the life span of the existing installation is prolonged.

Our approach to retrofits

• We prepare a conversion plan for your upgrade, so that you do not have any production loss.
• We make a thorough analysis of all activities, the potential impact and the risks and we suggest procedures to limit the risks.
• After the analysis we are able to estimate the budget.
• We draw up an emergency plan so that we are able to handle any unforeseen circumstances.
• We look at the production schedules, the planned interruptions and the fall back scenarios.
• We take care of the code conversion of PLC, HMI and SCADA systems.
• We activate new systems, transfer licences, provide qualification to maintain the validated status.