Harikrushna Machines Pvt. Ltd (HMPL) is one of the most Preferred and trusted Solution Providers for Packaging Requirements. The company manufactures and exports “Advanced Liquid Processing and Packaging Machinery for Beverages, Cosmetics, Dairy, Distilleries, Edible Oil, Food, Lubricants, Pesticides, Pharmaceuticals, and other Allied Industries.”
An ISO 9001-2015 Certified Organization & one of the first organizations in India to supply a machine with CE Certification. The state-of-the-art setup is equipped with an all-in-house manufacturing and R&D facility in Nadiad and Vatva in Ahmedabad.
Mr. Maulik Dave, Managing Director of Harikrushna Machines Pvt. Ltd. (HMPL), A Flagship Venture of Dave’s Group of Companies, shared information on new-age artificial intelligence & machine learning Technology with Pharma Machines and Technology during Pmec India 2023, how Harikrushna Machines are manufactured as per the regulatory requirements.
How is the pharma industry scaling up its operation through new-age artificial intelligence & machine learning technology?
Pharmaceutical companies worldwide are harnessing cutting-edge machine learning (ML) algorithms and AI-powered technologies to streamline the drug development process. These intelligent tools are adept at discerning intricate patterns within vast datasets and are crucial for addressing challenges related to intricate biological networks. This ability is helpful in researching the trends in various illnesses and determining which pharmaceutical combinations would best treat particular symptoms. Other than this, it is also being used in supply chain and logistics to avoid manufacturing and delivery bottlenecks by analysing vendor patterns.
Can you share some use cases where AI was successfully applied at Harikrushna Machines?
At HMPL, we have successfully adapted the use of AI in the supply chain to analyze and maintain datasets with regard to vendor patterns in terms of quality, cost, and delivery time and managed to bifurcate them into different channels for faster procurement.
What are some challenges to adopting AI in large organizations?
Significant challenges of AI adaptation are mostly related to data security and the risk of IPR theft. AI can also be costly to adapt as AI is still underdeveloped in India, and therefore, it is hard to select what is suitable for your company.
What are some of the challenges around data privacy, security, ethics, and transparency that organizations such as Harikrushna Machines are dealing with?
Like I mentioned as we are in the business where our designs are our most precious IP, a lot of leaks happen sometimes despite having a robust IT infrastructure at our disposal, but these are human errors so it is unavoidable sometimes.
How is the global regulatory environment impacting the pharma industry's adoption of AI?
I don’t see any regulations being applied in India apart from data privacy and participant confidentiality.
What do you see as critical needs for workforce development around AI?
I think education related to AI in the workforce is essential, along with manpower that can operate these AI tools.
Packaging and labeling are critical components of the pharmaceutical product development industry in India, where industry growth rates are some of the highest in the world, and the demand for pharmaceutical products and drug delivery systems is particularly elevated. Please shed light on product packaging and labeling challenges specific to India.
The major challenge India faces right now is the component lead time for imported quality bought-out items. Companies like Allen Bradley, Wipotec, Staubli, etc, do not have a manufacturing setup in India. Therefore, they have substantial lead times, which can sometimes cause delays in the manufacturing process.
Could you also shed light on the potential of automation in the packaging process, which creates many benefits for the packaging company?
With regards to automation in a manufacturing company, I believe in the next 15 years, major assemblies will be done by robots, and sub-assemblies will be done by co-bots, so I think there will be a shift in the requirements of the skills in the manpower.
Please shed light on some of the latest trends in the Indian pharmaceutical machinery segment.
I think due to recent geopolitical events and COVID, the world is putting their faith in India, especially in the pharmaceutical field, and therefore, manufacturing companies are going towards default EUGMP and USAFDA-compliant setups for their machines.
What AI technologies are you most looking forward to in the coming years?
I am excited about the machine component health diagnostics tool, which can be helpful for preventive maintenance and avoiding breakdowns resulting in minimum production loss for our end customers.
