Distinct challenges — and opportunities — in process manufacturing

Unlike most other manufacturing modes, process manufacturing cannot be “undone.” The products created — such as food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, and fuel — are not easily disassembled back into components. This puts the focus on bulk production, quality by batch, and strict formula management, and on workflows that get it right the first time. While the nature of this industry segment creates specific challenges in inventory and batch management, rapidly adapting to consumer demands, and ensuring compliance in both processes and practices, there are solutions and strategies your business can quickly embrace that help you clear the highest hurdles.

Enhancing quality control through data and analytics

By leveraging both AI and IoT (Internet of Things) manufacturers continuously collect data on critical process parameters and get immediate insights into the current state of a batch. Analysis can be proactive as well through digital twins of external and internal working environments allowing for simulations of different scenarios to identify optimal operating conditions, predicting the impact of changes on batch quality before physical implementation.

Simplifying process compliance

Process manufacturing is one of the most heavily regulated segments in the industry. However, multiple solutions exist to help organizations ensure adherence to stringent regulations like FDA, GMP, and ISO 9001. Electronic Batch Records (EBRs) help create accurate, time-stamped, and auditable records, crucial for GMP and FDA compliance, and solutions such as the Argano Audit and Security Manager can help provide comprehensive audit trails of all actions, meeting regulatory requirements for accountability and data integrity.

Minimizing the impact of material shortages

As trade gets tighter, access to raw materials will become more challenging. But with real-time inventory tracking (leveraging IoT and RFID data), predictive analytics (machine algorithms analyzing historical data and external factors to help you pivot), and customer engagement solutions that can help turn vendor relationships into proactive partnerships, we help your manufacturing business address material shortages and inventory optimization, so you can get more from your resources: materials, inventory, people, and processes.

Reducing downtime, driving operational performance

The backbone of a successful business is driving high-performance operations, and there may be no industry that benefits more than process manufacturing. Predictive maintenance alone — through cloud-based field service and asset management systems — can minimize outages and keep production flowing. Additionally, our industry strategists will evaluate existing workflows, identifying opportunities for automation that further fuel performance and success.