Gilles Pacaud and Christophe Bourillon discuss the importance of life sciences to Rockwell Automation France, industry trends and how the company caters to them, new opportunities in serialization, and being the partner of choice to life science companies.

Ten years ago, Rockwell Automation gained international renown for laying the foundation for the “factory of the future” with its Integrated Architecture portfolio. Today, the company is breaking new ground by pioneering the concept of a “Connected Enterprise”, an initiative about which your recently appointed global CEO Blake Moret cares passionately. What does this concept specifically entail, and how exactly does it apply to the French context, a land already highly acclaimed for its excellence in innovation?

The Connected Enterprise concept is mainly about integrating two worlds, worlds that most of the time are distinct from one another in our field of manufacturing: Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT). This concept is derived from the world of big data and connected devices, meaning that every single piece of information should be accessible from any point in the company, at any time, for any type of reporting or report. In a nutshell, the goal is to make available all type of information. Once this step is completed, one needs to conceptualize all of this information, as too much information does not serve a purpose. For example, a CEO does not need the same type of information as a production manager or quality manager. The overall target is therefore to have the information that one particular person needs, when he needs it, and where he needs it, meaning on whatever format he needs it: mobile phone, tablet, laptop, PC or any other device.

Connected Enterprise is tailored for our customers globally, and is something we utilize for all type of companies particularly global. The purpose of this is to make global companies much more simple and accessible to manage, and improve productivity for our customers by converging the IT and OT spheres. The system for example allows a CEO to read reports from sites across the globe.

Optimisation of costs implies standardization, but flexibility remains an important part of customer differentiation strategies, especially within the pharmaceutical sector. How does Rockwell Automation set about striking the right balance between standardization and flexibility?

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We strive for Connected Enterprise to provide off-the-shelf solutions, products and services to our clients, and for them to be able to utilize our offerings in a way that can be very flexible, especially compared to their past methods. For example, in life sciences, if we discuss Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), we will use off-the-shelf software, which is tailored by industry so we know the type of answers they need, and utilize our know-how and engineering to provide the flexibility that is required by the customer.

Globally, Rockwell Automation boasts a life sciences installed base of more than US$1 billion, supplies 95% of the Fortune 500 Pharma companies and works directly with 75% of the major life sciences Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Just how strategically important is the Life Sciences division relative to the rest of your activities within France?

The life sciences industry is strategically very important, and is a key industry for us in France – the same way it is one of the main economic sectors to the French economy. We have the right solution for the life sciences industry, and we work well with global companies, based in France and throughout the world, to determine what works best for the global footprint of the company. We are also seeing growth in the industry in terms of market, and there is a demand for the solutions we offer. We are targeting customers, in France and worldwide, and help to support them wherever they are. We are focused on processes, and to understand the business of our customers, and this again is where we excel: at focusing on customers across many industries, and helping them to standardize their processes globally.

The life sciences industry is strategically very important, and is a key industry for us in France – the same way it is one of the main economic sectors to the French economy.

Even when we work with companies based in France, very quickly we are working throughout their global company portfolio, offering solutions for the organization as a whole. That is really how Rockwell Automation works. We do this through internal communication, to facilitate and leverage all information and services that we offer for the benefit of our customers. For example, with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) we help them to deploy Quality Engineering and Management (QEM), in terms of programming or controlling, throughout the entire journey.

What synergies from other industries can you leverage and apply to the French pharmaceutical context?

Documentation, which is highly in demand in the pharmaceutical industry, is an area where we can truly leverage synergies within Rockwell Automation to the benefit of our clients. We can apply similar, successful approaches we have had with other businesses. Although the needs in every industry are different, you can use similar approaches nearly everywhere.

We also have synergies around services and technology, where similar technologies are applied across varying industries, including life sciences. Project management is another example, and is probably one of our biggest strengths. For example, if we deliver one project here in France, and have to do the same in Brazil, we can show the customer that we would do exactly the same in terms of documentation, the same approach in terms of methodology, because all of our PMs are certified in the same way. This shows the customer that we can deliver the project in exactly the same way.

According to Francois Sarkozy, “the golden age of the pharmaceutical sector is over”. In other words, the need to accelerate products through R&D and navigate ever more stringent market access and regulatory requirements is compelling pharmaceutical companies to reevaluate their process operations. Rockwell’s contribution in taking costs out of the system and enhancing operational capacity is thus increasingly sought after. How then, is your service offering for the life sciences sector in France, evolving over time?

The key for us in this regard is consultancy. We have started to develop this service only in the last 5 to 10 years, and are doing so more and more. Through this we are able to understand and talk with customers about their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and use our know-how and capabilities to achieve the results they want in the best way possible. We discuss time-to-market, quality, productivity, everything you can think about in terms of KPIs to help them achieve results. Connected Enterprise is part of this as well; we work with our clients to provide them with the best solutions within their factories and management systems to achieve these KPIs in the most efficient way. We are able to do this because of our extensive industry knowledge and because we know well the goals and concerns of companies.

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In terms of demand, we have seen an evolution, caused by different drivers that have truly changed the life sciences industry. The first is mergers and acquisitions, many companies are merging to consolidate business, including very large companies. The rise of biotechs is another driver of change, as it is a relatively new industry, and in some instances we even see companies splitting off their biotech business into separate companies with the case of Abbott and AbbVie. Costs and regulations are also causing changes. Today, the complexity of launching a new drug on the market has significantly increased. Pharmaceutical companies need to demonstrate much more why this new drug is both more beneficial and safe than the existing ones. This makes it more challenging to bring products to the market. Finally, the rise of generics is also putting a lot of pressure on innovators.

Production models are driving change as well. Large pharmaceutical companies do not focus as much on production anymore and instead rely on Contract Manufacturing Organizations (CMO). There are many CMOs and it is more complex I would say to deal with them, as we have to satisfy an even larger range of clients. The complexities are not in technology, but rather sales and market approaches. This is a completely new model for the industry.

Lastly, the personalized medicine trend. This is a field that has become much more prominent over the past 10 years, and we see more and more companies targeting very specific diseases and treatments. This implies small batches and a smaller approach for production, again highlighting the need for flexibility, something that Rockwell Automation provides without a doubt.

France may be slowly losing some attractiveness for production of pharmaceuticals and particularly of new molecules, but still today, the country remains a manufacturing powerhouse. To what extent is the name of the new game all about revamping and upgrading aging infrastructure, as after all, France is typically not a destination for green field infrastructural building?

Revamping aging infrastructure represents an opportunity for us. When you look at the overall manufacturing industry in France – all sectors combined, not just life sciences – the average age of machines is around 18-20 years, where as in Germany it is 8 years. Industry in France did not invest and innovate over time, and simply maintained existing tools. In life science this is true as well, sites need to be advanced and upgraded, and this has to be done based on the new needs of the industry. Rockwell Automation with its portfolio of products solution and services can easily be a part of this.

A new EU directive on serialization will be entering into force by February 2019. Given that serialization requires a comprehensive control and information system to track-and-trace products in manufacturing and through the entire supply chain – producers, distributors as well as patients, what can Rockwell Automation offer its clients on this front?

We offer complete solutions, we deliver a full scope of work and full data system, especially in terms of serialization. Serialization implies complete data management flow between all systems, top down and backwards, which represents a key challenge for the industry. We are talking about millions of points of data, and we need to get one single item on a single package that works throughout the value chain. It is not enough to simply track what you did during production; you need to track throughout the entire process.

What we see in the market today is that there are many players for serialization; however, we are one of the few that can truly do the full range of what is needed to make a serialization project successful throughout the entirety of the process. Through this we also work with a variety of partners, from OEMs to Cloud fields to provide complete solution and protect existing customer assets.

As demand for industrial process automation rises across the pharmaceutical arena, what makes Rockwell Automation the automatic partner of choice? How do you differentiate yourselves in an increasingly crowded marketplace?

We differentiate ourselves in many ways. One is our ability to offer a single platform to accomplish everything for our clients in a flexible way. Another is through connectivity; we are able to put all of our systems on one single network, and above all, we distinguish ourselves through our industry knowledge, especially in terms of life sciences. We understand the aims and goals of our clients, we understand the needs of our customers, and we work together to fully understand what they want to achieve and what to do to make that happen. Cyber security is also vital in the life sciences field, an area in which Rockwell Automation is working in partnership with Cisco Systems. All of our systems are designed with cyber security in mind. Through this we are able to offer full, complete, secure and flexible solutions and ensure data integrity as one of the major focuses for  the Life Sciences industry.

Above all, we distinguish ourselves through our industry knowledge, especially in terms of life sciences.

Just to name a few of our products :

PharmaSuite® MES brings an innovative approach to MES, with role-based optimization of each stage of the recipe life cycle that drives time to results for every user. Open-content architecture paired with an intelligent upgrade engine provides our customers with a powerful system designed for growth in both batch and discrete processing.

Our serialization solution with device-to-cloud interoperability takes a holistic approach to product tracking and traceability, giving both OEMs and end users a single approach to address upcoming regulations, product counterfeiting and product recalls for the life sciences industry.

Another differentiating factor I would like to highlight is our ability to cater for all necessary requirements in a one-stop shop. We act as one single supplier, making the training of teams easier and more efficient, as well as speeding up decision making and improving real-time management. It eases the life of the customer. We provide onsite services and training as well, helping customers achieve their goals. We strive to always deliver the right product to the customer at the right time.

And we team with premier companies through our PartnerNetwork™ Program. We align around industry expertise and complementary offerings; open, industry standards; collaboration and leadership. The cumulative benefit will help improve every aspect of our customers’ product lifecycle.

Mr Pacaud, you have been working at Rockwell Automation for 26 years. What are your key objectives for the company moving forward, and on a more personal note what do you hope to achieve in the future?

I hope to see the company continue to grow at the fast, healthy pace we are now! My objective as Managing Director of the French affiliate is to continue to develop our employees, identify key high potential talents and above all keep the motivation and passion for our customers and business through the entire French organization. We will continue exceeding expectations of our clients with the right organization and team in place. We invite customers to work with Rockwell Automation, to be their partners in achieving their KPIs and offering them excellent solutions throughout their organizations. On a more personal note, my goal is to continue to love and enjoy my work every day as much as I do now.