J&J’s pharmaceutical subsidiary Janssen has been using the PAS-X software, supplied by Germany-based firm Werum IT Solutions, at its API facility in Geel, Belgium for a number of years in order to manage its manufacturing operations including managing process quality control, material flow and master batch records.
300 members of its workforce have access to the software and Janssen has now updated Werum’s MES solution to the latest version.
“After operating the previous version for about two years, we have updated the PAS-X system in Geel in order to benefit from the improved out-of-the-box product functionality,” Anje Vermeiren, Senior Manager Manufacturing Systems of J&J said. These include “enhanced Master Batch Record functions, easier ways of reviewing Electronic Batch Records and enriched handheld functionality.”
According to Werum, paper-based documentation is still fairly common in pharma plants despite such operations tending to be unstructured and inefficient. The firm’s MES offers configurable electronic approval and release workflows offering, and brings benefits to companies, for example detecting deviations early in quality assurance.
Janssen’s site in Geel has a workforce of 760 and produces 70 different active substances for about two-thirds of J&J’s medicines portfolio.
Earlier this year, J&J announced it was investing almost €60m ($75m) to renovate the site. “Geel is by far the largest manufacturer of our raw materials for small molecules and is a key player within the whole of the Janssen Supply Chain,” CEO of Janssen Belgium Tom Heyman said at the time, according to Janssen's website.
Peter Putteman, General Manager of Chemical Production Belgium, added: “This renovation allows the high-tech production unit to continue to fulfil its important role in the manufacture of medicines which meet major medical needs on a global scale.”