Equipment Management Software
Although the focus for life science and pharmaceutical manufacturing productivity gains is often on completing batch / device history records, another area that can make a significant contribution to reducing release times is Equipment Management.
This function covers everything to do with controlling and tracking the usage information for any piece of equipment such as machines, vessels, rooms, containers, crates, trays, permanent pallets etc. It covers anything that has a “life of its own” and that may currently have a paper logbook, or where a recent audit has recommended a traceability record be put in place.
Typical problems with manually tracking usage can include:
- Equipment past due maintenance used in error
- Clearance not properly completed before using the equipment
- Logbook missing usage information
Equipment management can however be quickly automated to manage the allowable states that equipment can transition from or to. It’s part of most Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) that manage electronic batch / device history records or weigh & dispense business processes. However it can also be installed on its own and simple business rules applied to move the equipment from one state to another. These business rules can be time based, event based or based on material/part usage.
Shopfloor-OnlineTM Lifescience Edition has online Equipment Management software functionality that has been specifically designed for regulated life science environments. It provides for all cleaning validation rules that need to be applied to equipment and for environments that need full track and trace functionality.
It includes essential functions such as time triggered equipment state changes, where for example a room or container requires re-cleaning after a defined period of time has elapsed, or when a work order is no longer active on the equipment then the system will automatically move it to a “used” state. Implementation is rapid and typically within 3 -6 months.
The Equipment Management module provides:
- A simple and easy to use Interface
- Flexibility to model any equipment such as rooms, booths and scales or cells, machines and tools
- Automatic and/or manual state change capability (e.g. from “clean” or “available” to “in-use” or “busy”). Similarly, when equipment requires maintenance, the status can be manually or automatically changed to “requires maintenance”
The immediate benefits of Shopfloor-OnlineTM Lifescience Edition to your life science and pharmaceutical manufacturing operation will ensure that you:
- Eliminate paper usage logs and save time generating, completing and reviewing usage logs
- Have complete traceability in an electronic history, with filtering for the specific information requested (e.g., to give to an auditor)
- Prevent incorrect usage of equipment (e.g., using a room with incompatible materials, using dirty equipment or past due equipment)
- Can block review electronic batch records using colour coding
- Maintain your process in a controlled and therefore validated state
Understanding the time constraints in manufacturing, LZ Lifescience has developed a rapid review process which can automatically calculate business benefits from key data. If you would like us to provide this for your business or discuss how your business can benefit from Shopfloor-OnlineTM Lifescience Edition Equipment Management, please contact us.
