What you’ll learn from this article:
- How Industry 4.0 technologies are essential for addressing the workforce shortages in life sciences manufacturing
- How process automation and AI can help empower employees by enhancing productivity, assisting with technical training, and facilitating knowledge transfer
- Where predictive maintenance and system integration can significantly reduce costs, improve quality and ensure reliable operations in pharmaceutical manufacturing.
In the United Kingdom, manufacturers in the life sciences industry are wrestling with how to replace 75,000 retiring workers between now and 2035.1 The issue is much bigger than just the United Kingdom, as statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor show nearly 21% of the life sciences manufacturing workforce in the United States is age 55 or older.2
A looming mass wave of retirement — combined with the reality that life sciences manufacturing requires specialized expertise in processing, quality control, chemistry and analytics that are often inherently more complex than other manufacturing — has companies around the world searching for transformational solutions. Industry 4.0, the integration of intelligent digital technologies into manufacturing, has that potential. The integration of artificial intelligence (AI), smart sensors, digitalization of paper-based workflows and the integration of building technologies into consolidated systems can help bridge this workforce gap by maximizing the efficiency of existing staff and lowering the skill threshold needed to enter the talent pool of qualified candidates.
Streamlined Digital Workflows
The emergence of AI has made the digitalization of logbooks and extensive paper records a more manageable process — whether looking at production procedures or building management. Digitalization makes it quicker for manufacturers to record and access information, use templates to accelerate the creation and modification of electronic recipes and implement safeguards to consistently follow specific actions. For example, electronic standard operating procedures (eSOPs) allow employees to have ready access to information in an easily digestible format. They’re designed to help make sure the right steps are followed in the right order, whether for a production process or responding to a safety incident in the facility. The benefits are particularly pronounced within organizations that face challenges related to generational skilled knowledge transfer.
Process Automation
Companies have long turned to the automation of simple, routine tasks to help reduce operating costs. Organizations committed to remaining on the cutting edge don’t stop there, though. More sophisticated automation can assist with technical training and the monitoring of critical processes and building parameters, even alerting the organization if it’s trending toward a deviation.
Empowering Staff with AI and Data Access
Organizations that embrace AI can help maximize employee productivity empowering them with access to valuable data. They turn AI into a force multiplier by helping workers write procedures, author recipes, verify processes and analyze trends. The right data in the right hands can create a competitive advantage.
Predictive Maintenance and System Integration
Fully integrated Industry 4.0 facilities can use sensors to monitor nearly everything from floor to ceiling and even predict the maintenance needs of production and building assets. In fact, Bain & Company found these enhancements can help pharmaceutical manufacturing cut costs by up to 20%, improve quality, increase flexibility and make deliveries more reliable.3 The ability to manage the information generated by predictive maintenance tools, fire safety systems and security access controls via a single, integrated platform helps support consistent, high-quality, decision-making across facility operations.
Honeywell can help life science manufacturers embrace digitalization and set up integrated Industry 4.0 operations, closing the workforce gap and establishing an advantage for decades to come.
Download the full eBook “Bridging the Workforce Gap: Leveraging Industry 4.0 in Life Sciences Manufacturing” or contact us to discuss partnering on a customized solution for your organization.
References
1. U.K. Bioindustry Association, Life Sciences Will Need 70,000 New Jobs By 2035, March 5, 2025. Available at: https://www.bioindustry.org/resource/life-sciences-will-need-70000-new-jobs-by-2035.html [Accessed 10 October 2023].
2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey, Jan. 29, 2025. Available at: https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat18b.htm [Accessed 10 October 2023].
3. Bain & Company, Digital Manufacturing Is (Finally) Coming to Pharma, April 2020. Available at: https://www.bain.com/insights/digital-manufacturing-is-finally-coming-to-pharma/ [Accessed 10 October 2023].
