Invensys Process Systems (IPS), a global technology, software and consulting firm, announced that it has donated its InFusion enterprise control technology to the UMass Lowell BioManufacturing Center. Combined with additional donations of equipment and services from Wyeth Biotech and Dakota Systems, the new center will provide a full-scale manufacturing operation, giving students a greater appreciation of the transition of biotechnologic products from research to commercial production.

“Too often, young biotechnology companies invest years investigating a therapeutic modality in the lab, but don’t realize the complexities of manufacturing the product commercially until it is too late. Thanks to the cutting-edge technology that IPS is providing, our students will have the tools not just to understand real-world production operations, but also to see how plant floor, lab and business processes interrelate – and must interrelate – for success in these increasingly dynamic global markets,” said Carl Lawton, director of the Massachusetts BioManufacturing Center at UMass Lowell.

The BioManufacturing Center applies biochemical and biological knowledge, combined with state-of-the-art principles and technology, to solve complex industrial challenges for bio-analytical process development. The InFusion system is a control and integration platform that simplifies accessing and integrating data from disparate systems, providing plant personnel with the knowledge they need to identify potential problems. It is the first system to bring financial, production and laboratory data together on an enterprise scale.

Source: Invensys