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As with many other people across Ireland in similar positions, the early days and weeks of the Covid-19 lockdown for Darragh McMorrow involved a process of transitioning on multiple levels. Darragh is SL Controls Commercial Director. For Darragh, the transitions involved adapting and adjusting in the workplace, at home, and personally. There were many challenges …

Lockdown Stories: Managing the Transition with Darragh McMorrow Read More »

Expanding manufacturing capacity is essential to meet growing customer demand, but it also presents your business with an opportunity to take further steps towards becoming a Smart Factory. You can even go further than this – implementing an SL Controls Smart Factory solution when expanding manufacturing capacity can improve your overall business and make the …

Expanding Manufacturing Capacity – the Ideal Time to Implement Factory Automation Solutions Read More »

Like a lot of companies, SL Controls had to pivot quickly when the first lockdown was introduced in March of this year. The restrictions since then have varied as the country battles the Covid-19 pandemic, but life and work for SL Controls employees remains very different from what it used to be. We spoke to …

Lockdown Stories: Taking on New Challenges and Supporting Local Causes Read More »

The smart factory and digital manufacturing technologies are the future of manufacturing. That said, change in business carries risks, particularly when those changes involve creating fundamentally different business and manufacturing processes. Smart factory technologies are not immune to such risks. One of the clearest examples of how the smart factory can go wrong comes from …

Too Much Too Soon – Avoiding Factory Automation & Smart Factory Implementation Risks Read More »

Everyone’s experience of living and working during lockdown will have been different, but there are a lot of similarities, too. Many of us are now working differently than we ever did before. Re-evaluating how we use our time is another common theme having lived through the spring/summer lockdown, as is looking again at our work-life …

Company, Team, Family: The Lockdown Experience for SL Controls CEO Keith Moran Read More »

Manufacturing in all sectors is increasingly becoming data driven. Part of this shift to data is the use of databases for parts tracking on a production line, rather than the more traditional PLC shift register approach. With a database managing the movement of data, individual machines on the line can operate independently, processing multiple lots …

Case Study: Performance Monitoring of Databases in High-Volume Production Facilities Read More »

The needs of the high-volume manufacturing sector are rapidly changing, particularly in highly regulated industries. If you are in a leadership role in one of these industries, you need solution providers who can respond quickly to your requirements to ensure you remain competitive while also maintaining accuracy, quality, and compliance. This requires a new approach …

Taking an Agile Approach to Talent Management to Meet Client Requirements Read More »

Two concepts known as vertical integration and horizontal integration are key to moving your manufacturing facility closer to an optimised Industry 4.0 operation. We discussed the benefits of Industry 4.0 vertical integration in another blog. Here, we’ll look at the advantages and benefits of Industry 4.0 horizontal integration. Let’s start with a recap – what …

Advantages and Benefits of Industry 4.0 Horizontal Integration for Pharmaceutical & Medical Device Manufacturers Read More »

Vertical integration is about converging OT (operational technology) and IT (information technology) in your business, in addition to integrating processes and other systems across different departments and business units. In its most advanced form, it involves all aspects of the business, from factory floor systems and processes to the ERP (enterprise resource planning) platform, CRM …

Benefits of Industry 4.0 Vertical Integration – Where OT and IT Converge Read More »

In an Industry 4.0 context, horizontal and vertical integration offers substantial benefits to pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers. These benefits include everything from improved agility and flexibility to enhanced productivity, decision-making, and competitiveness. Horizontal and vertical integration delivers these benefits by achieving unprecedented levels of alignment across entire organisational ecosystems, from the factory floor to …

Horizontal and Vertical Integration in Industry 4.0 for Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Manufacturers Read More »

Industry 4.0 is transformative. Among other things, it enables you to move from being a product-centric organisation to being customer-centric. This presents massive and potentially game-changing opportunities for your business. Implementing Industry 4.0 and Smart Factory solutions is, of course, a marathon rather than a sprint. That said, even in the early stages of the …

The Human-Centred Approach: A Key Component to Industry 4.0 Success Read More »

OEE is a well-established method of measuring productivity in manufacturing operations. Its origins can be traced back to the 1950s, however, so does it still have relevance today in the Industry 4.0 era? Not only is OEE still relevant, but its importance has been amplified with the opportunities and challenges created by Industry 4.0 technologies …

The Relevance of OEE in the Industry 4.0 and Smart Factory Era Read More »

Often when discussions take place around Industry 4.0, they revolve around technologies. In other words, how technologies like cloud computing, robotics, AI, digital simulations, autonomous vehicles, data analytics, etc are creating opportunities for manufacturers to move into the Industry 4.0 era. Industry 4.0 is about much more than technologies, however. Instead, it is about digitally …

Industry 4.0 and the Importance of Technology, Executive Support, and Skills Alignment Read More »

Modern technologies make it possible to create digital simulations, digital twins, and virtual 3D models of products, parts, manufacturing processes, machine processes, systems, and more. Engineers can then use these simulations and models to facilitate the design process, improve quality, identify errors, and improve performance. They can do this by testing multiple design variations in …

Digital Validation and Why It’s Important to Pharmaceutical and MedTech Manufacturers Read More »

In a previous blog, we outlined what the digital supply chain looks like in the Industry 4.0 era. To briefly recap, it is not just about operating digitally – communicating digitally, analysing data digitally, etc. Instead, it is about connecting all elements in your supply chain in real-time, providing you with simultaneous and instant communication …

How Developing a Digital Supply Chain Will Improve Your Business Read More »

Traditionally, supply chain management was a back-office function in manufacturing businesses. It was important, of course, particularly in regulated sectors like pharmaceuticals and MedTech, but it wasn’t central to the performance and management of the company. In other words, it wasn’t on the day-to-day radar of C-Suite executives – CEOs, CFOs, etc. This is changing …

The Importance of Industry 4.0’s Digital Supply Chain Read More »

  What is Lean Validation? Validation is essential for product quality, compliance, patient safety, and more. It ensures manufactured products are a consistent quality while also providing evidence of this quality. It is also ensures systems perform according to specification. Lean validation is about eliminating waste at all stages of the validation process. How to …

Infographic – Lean Validation Read More »

The technologies that exist today make remote collaborative working across companies easy. The same applies to providing remote support services for IT systems. You can jump on a videoconference call using any number of applications. At the end of the call, you can give control of your computer to the third-party engineer you’ve been collaborating …

The Importance of Transforming Remote Support and Collaborative Working Across Companies Read More »

Industry 4.0 technologies allow your business to improve efficiency, enhance the service you offer to customers, and increase profitability in your current manufacturing operations. These are compelling reasons for developing and implementing an Industry 4.0 strategy. Industry 4.0 is about more than enhancing and improving your business operations, though. The technologies, processes, and ways of …

The Impact of Industry 4.0 on New Business Opportunities in Pharma and MedTech Read More »

Manufacturing operations globally are seeing disruption they have never experienced before as a result of the COVID-19 emergency. The focus in the early weeks of the crisis was about understanding and adapting to the dramatically changed situation while those manufacturing essential products like food, medicines, PPE, and medical devices dealt with the challenge of meeting …

Industry 4.0 and the Manufacturing Industry in a Post COVID-19 World Read More »

  Phase: Design Analyse the requirements, objectives, and impact of the change in addition to assessing the expected outcomes during the project’s design stage. Step 1: Assess the Change Request Step 2: Assess the Impact Step 3: Document the Expected Outcomes Phase: Implementation Implement the change in a sandbox or similar safe environment and then …

Infographic: Change Management Steps in Validated Systems Read More »

OEE – Overall Equipment Effectiveness – has long been a performance measurement used in factories to reduce costs, improve quality, increase capacity, and more. The objective is always to optimise OEE. How can Smart Factory technologies help with this optimisation? Let’s first quickly define the Smart Factory. It’s a complex picture but, at its simplest, …

How Smart Factory Solutions Improve OEE in Modern Manufacturing Facilities Read More »

For many of us, the work experience has become very different over the last week or two. While the coronavirus situation is temporary, we are all having to adapt to new ways of working as part of the national and international effort to slow the spread of the disease while keeping businesses and the economy …

Tips for Working from Home Read More »

How far is your business along the path to becoming a smart factory? Are you increasing your investment in Smart Factory initiatives and projects? Given the competitiveness of the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, and the rapid pace of change, these are important questions to answer. Understanding the scale and nature of the benefits that …

Smart Factory Benefits for Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Manufacturers Read More »

Digital transformation is both an opportunity and a challenge for businesses in all industries. If you are in the pharmaceutical or medical device industries, what does digital transformation mean in the current trading and regulatory environment? What are the next steps you should take? Digital Transformation – the Goal for Pharmaceutical and MedTech Businesses Digital …

Embracing Digital Transformation in the Pharmaceutical and MedTech Industries Read More »

The start of the last decade was a time of upheaval in Ireland. The global financial crash was practically all that was in the news and, like other countries, Ireland was hit hard. One of the immediate outcomes of this was that people in many industries chose to move abroad for career reasons. Roll forward …

Employee Stories – Moving Back to Ireland After Living and Working as an Engineer in Australia Read More »

The more you work in engineering, and the more engineers you work with, the more you understand there is no shortage of ideas. Coming up with new systems, processes, tools, products, ways of working, templates, and procedures is something that engineers do naturally – it’s in our DNA. The real challenge for organisations is harnessing …

Managing Innovation – Capturing and Driving Good Ideas Read More »

Learn more about SL Controls in our new corporate video:  

Today, Amit Patel, Senior Validation Engineer at SL Controls, works with some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical and medical device companies from our office in Maynooth, Dublin. His journey to a career at SL Controls is slightly more unusual, however, than those employees who were born, studied, and/or previously worked here in Ireland. This gives …

Employee Stories – From India, Via Hong Kong, to SL Controls in Dublin – A Validation Engineer’s Journey Read More »

Over the years, SL Controls has completed various projects outside Ireland for clients in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. However, we took this international growth a stage further in 2019 by opening a new office in Florida, USA. We did this through an existing international client we have a strong and long-standing relationship with. …

SL Controls US Expansion Through Existing International Corporate Client Read More »