Atachi NGIMES is one of the top 10 Global MES Solutions for Pharma companies in the world. - Pharma MES SWOR analysis by global research firms
Pharma Machines & Technology has a previlege to discuss with Mr. Krishna Balachandran on Manufacturing Execution System, who has more than 18 years of experience in Manufacturing & Product Development. He earned his MBA from Kellogg School of Management in USA
Atachi Systems provides manufacturing companies with a seamless, cloud-based Manufacturing Execution System – NGIMES. NGIMES is the Next Generation Integrated Manufacturing Execution Systems. Atachi Systems’ experience in deploying MES for pharmaceutical manufacturing companies for several years in a row is a testimonial on its own. Put simply, Atachi Systems understands the importance of deploying an MES system that is strategic to its core manufacturing requirements, yet cost effective to maintain and run for years to come! Our clients call it the Atachi Advantage.
NGIMES is highly configurable Manufacturing Execution System (MES) for Pharmaceutical Manufacturing. NGIMES can be quickly deployed for the bulk drugs, API, formulation and packaging sections of the pharmaceutical manufacturing companies.
Meet market demands, increase output and raise ROI by utilizing an MES-in-the-cloud solution from Atachi. From the shop floor to an office, vital data can be viewed anywhere. And because the information is real-time, decision-making can be done to create instant results. It’s all about speed and production with compliance in Pharma manufacturing and nobody is quicker or generates better results than Atachi NGIMES.
Q
Why the Indian pharma companies need to digitize their operations or move to the Pharma 4.0?
Right now, the Indian pharma market is under the highest pressure because of the following reasons:
- Emerging global generic drug exports to the developed countries
- if we do not ensure that our manufacturing processes are compliant with the FDA regulations, Indian pharma companies will lose the market opportunities, which is multi-billion dollars.
- The FDA Process is getting stringent every day, and FDA compliance will be enforced for all pharma companies exporting to the developed countries.
- Compliance is the only thing that will let you to export drugs to these countries
- Warning letters are very expensive, which can cause product recalls, plant shutdowns, etc
Q
Let us say if an Indian pharma company received an FDA or Compliance warning letter how quickly Atachi can help? What is your approach?
- a) We have been deploying the MES solutions in the pharma industry for the last 14 years. The best approach is to plug-in or integrate all the PLC’s and ensure that the data is captured in real-time, in other words, we implement the IIOT (Industrial Internet of Things) first. This deployment typically takes 10-12 weeks, in this phase we capture the data in real-time and ensure that there are no data integrity issues with the process data.
- b) In the second phase, we deploy the MES solution, which is also called as EBMR (Electronic Batch Manufacturing Record), where all the manufacturing processes are digitized end-to-end. It will eliminate human errors, and once again, the data integrity issues are resolved.
- c) At every stage of the processes, we capture the electronic signatures of the associates and generate the real time alerts via SMS and email for any process deviations and ensure that the only qualified batches are shipped out to the customers.
Q
What is so unique about Atachi systems and why do you think, Atachi is a perfect fit for Indian pharma companies?
We are bringing 14 years of global pharma manufacturing digitization expertise to Indian pharma companies. It distinguishes us from the local MES solutions providers. Atachi has worked with several top global pharma manufacturing companies who have used the other MES platforms and struggled to get the value out of these MES platforms; hence we call them legacy platforms. Atachi NGIMES platform has eliminated all the pain points that companies are struggling with legacy platforms. Our platform is the only MES solution entirely built on SAP HANA platform that leverages Big Data analytics and AI, which need tomorrow’s business. Because of these reasons, Atachi systems has been listed as TOP Global MES platforms by several research firms in the last few years, repeatedly.
Q
What are Atachi solutions offerings for Pharma 4.0?
We are the End-To-End Manufacturing Digitization Platform company helping the pharma manufacturers to get them on to the Pharma 4.0 journey and realize complete business agility (quickly and cost-effectively) for their customers with real-time insights. As part of our platform, we offer EBMR, eLogBooks, DMS, CAPA, IIOT, TMS, Supplier quality management, Real-time analytics, Mobility, big data, and AI at a single license cost. Users don’t need to pay separately for each functionality; everything comes as a single package in a USE-AS-NEEDED approach.
Q
Given that you are offering so many modules, are you charging the customer for all these modules?
No, Absolutely not! We are very inexpensive; On average, we charge 1/4th of top global MES platforms.
- Let me give an example, one of our customers was using a legacy MES platform and paid a few hundred thousand dollars to customize and integrate their MES platform with their ERP systems. When we implemented our solution, that is natively built in SAP HANA platform, our total MES solution costed the customer 1/6th of their (prior MES -ERP) integration cost, not the licensing cost or implementation cost. We deployed the entire solution 1/6th of what they paid just for (MES-ERP) integration. Our complete solution is much cheaper because we built everything on modern technology, and you do not need any additional hardware/server or middleware. So, our TCO is much lower than anyone else.
Q
What are the other unique features that will make you standout or go-to-the-solution-provider?
We are proud to say that our solution is highly scalable and seamlessly integrates with on-premises, cloud, and hybrid third party applications. Our implementation timelines are typically down to 50% – 65% less than the legacy MES platforms’ deployment times. Atachi NGIMES platform saves a significant amount of time and effort for validations of MES applications for pharma manufactures.
Q
I heard from Indian pharma community, when they are committed to deploy MES systems, they do not get much ROI? Is it true?
This statement is true to some extent. Actually, we have a lot of legacy systems in foreign markets. These legacy systems take lot of time, effort, and money to deploy because these legacy MES systems need tedious installations, validations, and expensive post go-live support. When we talk about Indian pharma, a lot of the MES solutions are point solutions, which means they provide piece by piece functionality or partial functionalities. These solutions provide quick relief, and many times seemed to be cheaper, but customers end up with a lot of integration and quick upgrade costs. Also, these solutions do not give customers a holistic view of manufacturing. The end result is still data integrity and compliance problems unresolved, even after 2 to 3 years of journey. Hence a lot of Indian pharma manufacturers are frustrated with these legacy systems and point solutions. Atachi systems solution is different; Our MES is built on modern technology and provides a holistic view of the manufacturing. We also work with the customers, hand-in-hand and provide data analytics on where they are losing quality, availability, and throughput, etc. For example, we worked with one of the top pharma company in the US; They implemented our Atachi NGIMES -IIOT solution and uncovered the 10% of hidden factory by closely working with us. What is the benefit? They are able to save 200 to 300 Million dollars, bottom line by improving the availability, quality, and throughput.
Q
What are the typical steps for a pharma company to implement your MES solution?
We will start with an initial meeting with customer, followed by factory visit and then we do a POC for one production line. We do it completely free; they do not need to pay any implementation or product cost. They can experience the product and if they are satisfied, we can go ahead and do the complete implementation for the factory, based on what the customer needs EBMR, IIOT, DMS, QMS etc. There are no hidden costs for all these products. The entire platform is available for customer.
Q
How about eLogBooks for Pharma manufacturers? Do you provide that along with other solutions?
We do not charge the customers for the eLogBooks. If some Pharma companies need eLogBooks, then they can reach out to Atachi systems! It is completely free. The only thing you need to pay a one-time cost for customization and implementation.
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