Case Study · Pharmaceuticals
Production Scheduling Transformation: Enhancing Manufacturing Operations with Industrial Intelligent Application（MES）
01 — BACKGROUND
A UK-based biotech leader in allergy immunotherapy vaccines sold across 9 EU countries. 500+ staff operating an 11k m² MHRA-certified plant specializing in high-precision manufacturing.
02 — The Challenge
Coordination of Multi-Line Production Planning
Excel-only Planning
4–6 hours of daily manual effort required to build schedules across multi-line, multi-shift production.
Rush/Insert Orders
Emergency orders forced full sheet rewrites, causing 2–3 hours of lost time and WIP & materials misalignment.
Info Lag
Updated schedules were printed/emailed; 300 operators received changes with a 30–60 minute delay.
Inventory Risk
Expiry-sensitive bulk vaccines faced over-production risks, tying up critical working capital.
03 — The Solution
Industrial Intelligent Scheduling
ERP Plug-in
Auto-pulls production tasks from split orders; no other interfaces required.
Smart Rule Engine
Advanced logic considering workstation capacity, item rules, and process stage sequences (including expiry); generates optimal weekly sequences in < 5 seconds.
Planner Cockpit
Gantt drag-and-drop for manual tweaks; system re-optimizes only the impacted blocks.
Hot-Order Button
One-click re-run; new plans pushed to lines instantly while previous frozen sections remain locked.
Shop-Floor View
Real-time visibility of current step and next step; automatic version control for all 300+ operators.
04 — Key Performance
Faster Scheduling
Plan generation time slashed from 4 hours to 5 minutes.
Reactivity
Rush orders are processed and synchronized instantly across the facility.
Sync Delays
Real-time synchronization achieved for all 300 staff members.
Compliance
Strategic advancement in digital manufacturing while maintaining strict regulatory standards.
05 — Client Quote
The Intelligent Application let us take a giant step in digital manufacturing while keeping GMP compliance.
—Team