Genzyme monitors 50,000 SCADA points with Anybus Communicator

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15th April 2011

Source: HMS Industrial Networks AB

The company, which is a world leader in biotechnology, is creating a new polyclonal antibody production site.This is an innovative production facility: the process has been automated as far as possible, to reduce human error in the many stages of the process (separation, purification, filtration, ultrafiltration, haemadsorption etc.).This involves being able to interface with a battery of very mixed laboratory equipment, which was not initially designed to communicate with fieldbuses. Genzyme has used about thirty HMS Anybus Communicator gateways, to enable consistent SCADA management across all the devices in use. Benefits are as much in terms of quality as in production costs

The Lyon bioproduction site extends over an area of 22,000 m², and produces a selective
immunosuppressant which is used to prevent and treat organ rejection during organ transplants
(Thymoglobulin®).This drug is also used in haematology in cases where the transplanted cells react against
their host in bone marrow transplants. The active agents in this drug are anti-human thymocyte
immunoglobulins, obtained from the purification of a serum, which is used as the raw material. The
immunogenic base consists of thymocytes (Thymus cells), a natural source of T cells. The development of
this site has involved investment worth 115 million euros.
»Genzyme is currently using labour-intensive production methods at the Sanofi Pasteur site, Marcy. With the
new site, we´re hoping to optimise the process so as to reduce human error to the absolute minimum. This
highly sequential batch process involves more than 780 production stages. There are many sources of error.
Automating a process such as this has required a lot of close work with the equipment involved when
deciding how the system should behave. This has avoided the need to re-think the entire ergonomics of the
building and production equipment, whilst still resulting in a true revolution in the way the production process
works. To achieve this, we specified more than 4,000 parameters and 13,000 alarms, enabling us to master
every stage of production,» explains Alexis Ducancel, Genzyme´s Automated Systems officer.

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