Life Science

It’s time to innovate. Why the life science industry needs robots more than ever

The life science industry – defined as pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, med tech and nutraceuticals – is expected to reach sales of 1.9trillion USD by 2022. While it’s positive for the industry to have a growth rate that defies the continued price pressure, individual companies will see increased competition. In fact, given the continuously evolving trends in life science, even legacy companies run the risk of being outcompeted.

In order to stay ahead of the pack, and take advantage of the growing space, brands must take a leaf from the biotech players and become innovation first movers. Cutting edge technology like Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) will help businesses compete better, by increasing worker safety, productivity and flexibility, all with a fast ROI.

• Workflow optimization
• Flexibility
• Full functionality in sterile environments

Workflow optimization

Allocating manual transportation tasks to resilient, intelligent AMRs optimizes workflows. Not only does this free up employees to complete value adding tasks, it also removes risky or time consuming human errors from the process. Unlike AGVs and forklift trucks, autonomous mobile robots can make intuitive decisions based on data, cameras and sensors to take the best routes and avoid obstacles. All of this speeds up production while optimizing the batch quality, and minimizing costs from wasted time and materials.

Flexibility

All of the autonomous mobile robots from MiR can be equipped with different top modules such as shelves, conveyor bands, robotic arms or hooks. This means they can be customized to meet specific business needs. What’s more, the fact they are easy to set up and use, optimizes uptime and allows manufacturers to respond fast to changing demands. Their impressive range of safety settings means they can work collaboratively with humans, further aiding the flexibility of supply chains.

Full functionality in sterile environments

Due to the strict hygiene regulations of medical manufacturing, many workhours can be wasted on the gowning and ungowning of protective clothing. This was the case with Argon Medical Devices, the global medical manufacturer. After they implemented a MiR200 AMR to transport instruments from the cleanroom to the warehouse they could redeploy employees to more valuable activities. The time saved, was the equivalent to the work of one full-time employee, giving Argon a return on investment of just one year.