2016-01-04

No-Regret Solutions - Modular Production Systems in Times of Uncertainty and Complexity                                                                

Dr. Helmut Mothes

Global competition, shorter product cycles, individualized products, and faster technology innovation lead to more complex production systems. For the product life cycle, forecast of product demand, resource availability, and technology chances becomes a mission impossible. Applying a modularization strategy, future production systems are designed as no-regret-solutions that add risk minimization to profit maximization. Additive manufacturing and the Internet of Things will significantly improve economics of modular designs for the chemical-pharmaceutical Industry.

Lecture "Personalized Medicine - Changing Process Development and Drug Manufacturing"

Dr. Helmut Mothes - Guest Professor / East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST) / Shanghai - 2012-05-08

Personalized Medicine represents a major paradigm change for the Healthcare Industry.Therapy in Conventional Medicine is based on the assumption that a general drugapplied properly could serve all patients. Therapy in Personalized Medicine isbased on phenotype, genotype and other features of an individual patient orpatient collective. It is clear that in order to meet the future needs of PersonalizedMedicine, a new production system will emerge:

1. PersonalizedMedicine requires drugs tailor-made for patient sub groups / individuals.
2. Drug design could become part of themanufacturing process.
3. PersonalizedMedicine leads compared to today to more small-quantity drugs (instead ofblockbuster drugs), more slightly modified drug varieties forpersonalization and various drug delivery/packaging systems (doseadjusted).
4. Personalized Medicine, therefore, requires a very flexible, small-volume production with intensified, dedicated unit operations, modular equipment assemblies and highly automated, flexible assembly-lines.

Currently drugs are mainly produced in multi-purpose/multi-product facilities in a batch operation. Overall processing time of drug takes several months requiring a complex global supply chain. This is no longer economical even for conventional drugs – in any case prohibitive for small volume, tailor-made personalized medicine drugs.

A new production paradigm will be required for personalized medicine drugs combining process intensification concepts, novel technologies and a new operation mode. Processing industry-type manufacturing will be replaced by assembly-line-type factories - fully automated and dedicated to a certain drug. The drug design process will even become an integral part of the manufacturing process.

Lecture "Personalized Medicine - An Opportunity for a decentralized, modular Production of Drugs"

Dr. Helmut Mothes - Presentation / PAAT (ProcessNet) / Dortmund - 2012-12-20 

Challenges in Research and Process Development for the Chemical industry

This report gives a comprehensive review on the challenges in research for the European chemical industry. This paper was given at ECCE 2004 in Granada (Spain).

No-Regret-Solutions - Process Design in Times of Complexity and Uncertainty:

"Innovation in Manufacturing Technologies" is an on-going series reporting on new technologies that can act as a game changer in manufacturing. These technologies possess features changing the product supply chain fundamentally. A first report covers the potential impact of modular process and plant designs on the structure and performance of pharmaceutical drug supply chains.   

 Executive Summary can be downloaded using the following link:  

The complete report "Future Manufacturing - No-Regret-Solutions with Modular Production Systems" (2013 / 7 Pages) is available using the next link:

"Innovation Management - A Necessity for Process Development"

                                                            Dr. Helmut Mothes / 3.ITC - Shanghai - 2007-4-7