Evaluating the potential for the continuous processing of pharmaceutical products - a supply network perspective

This paper presents an approach to evaluating the potential supply chain benefits of adopting continuous processing technologies for a diverse set of pharmaceutical products. The approach integrates upstream ‘continuous’ processing considerations for the production of active ingredients and final product formulation, with the downstream implications for packing and distribution. Currently, these upstream and downstream operations largely operate as decoupled operations with independent coordination and governance mechanisms, and the approach presented in this paper identifies opportunities for more case-specific integrated end-to-end supply chains enabled by continuous flow technologies. Three specific product (and corresponding processing technology) case studies are used to demonstrate the utility of the approach in assessing the supply network and system integration opportunities that emerge from the continuous processing of pharmaceutical products.We would like to acknowledge the support from the UK’s EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Continuous Manufacturing and Crystallisation, and the Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative (AMSCI) programme Remedies Project.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cep.2015.07.01