The innovation of digital technologies has driven the new industrial revolution, the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0), which focuses largely on interconnectivity, automation, machine learning, and real-time data. Today, every industry is now shifted towards digitalization as the world has approached this new industrial revolution.

However, the life sciences industry lags in embracing Industry 4.0, mainly due to the perceived risks to product quality and patient safety related to deploying any change within its complex validated manufacturing environment.

Industry 4.0 delivers a range of key benefits, including enhanced security, improved productivity and safety enhancements. The use of digital technologies enables businesses to accomplish a unique overview of how their manufacturing facility is performing and to take action to solve any issues before they result, causing inefficiency, subpar product quality or plant downtime.

Thus, by leveraging new, innovative business model driven by advanced technologies, life sciences companies can reap an immense competitive edge. And the adoption of disruptive technologies can revolutionize the manufacturing value chain in the industry.

Influences of Industry 4.0 in Life Sciences

In a recent Deloitte study, most industry leaders, including those in life sciences, seem to be gaining a much deeper understanding of the fourth industrial revolution. They are increasingly aware of the challenges and now seek the actions needed to succeed. Leaders in life sciences manufacturing know that safely and efficiently manufacturing drugs or medical devices relies not just on gleaning and storing the required data but using it in ways previously not possible.

They can leverage the power of Industry 4.0 to sense, envisage and automate a large variety of functions on the shop floor.

Industry 4.0 can assist life sciences firms by assisting in supply chain management as next-gen supply chains can be analytics-driven, and monitored and controlled through a centralised system in real-time. This could be significant as organizations move into partnerships with firms in developing countries to lessen their bottom-line spending.

Moreover, embracing digital technologies could lead to a widened scope of innovation in life sciences. As clinical research deals with a massive amount of data, it requires costly infrastructure to mine, evaluate and simulate the data. However, this inflated and costly process can be dodged by combining cloud-enabled solutions across a firm’s research facilities, instead of their geographical locations.

Afterward, these data can be retrieved by different teams located in distinct locations for analysis. This system assists in cutting down the time and expenses relating to trials. In turn, this wider access to data and information can make open innovations possible.

Currently, the Life Sciences sector is under tremendous pressure due to an ever-ageing world population, a rapid spread of diseases and the phenomenal rise in chronic diseases. In addition to these, firms are struggling to meet huge consumer expectations and need to come up with new, cutting-edge drugs that can save more lives. In this context, moving ahead will become increasingly difficult for them to stay in business if they don’t opt for an Industry 4.0 makeover.

In brief, turning to Industry 4.0 is a key step for life sciences companies in years to come. Also they must be prepared for addressing challenges while adopting this framework, otherwise, any technological slip-ups could result in higher production outages.