Cleanroom - designed by Tim SandlePeople specializing in clean room design for pharmaceutical plants have eagerly explored possibilities that include tech and innovation, believing that those attributes will prepare the facilities ready for current and future needs. However, creating a well-designed and purposeful space is about more than just ensuring it has a cutting-edge look and shows the company as a well-equipped entity. Which trends have supported these goals?
By Emily Newton
Using AI-Enabled Digital Twins in Clean Room Design
One emerging trend involves executives relying on digital twins to evaluate differences between potential design choices. Changing the location of an entrance or running through various airflow simulations can help people make informed decisions rather than realizing too late that specific ideas they had were more effective in their minds than reality.
Digital twins are highly realistic representations of actual assets or physical spaces, so people can quickly alter these virtual copies to familiarize themselves with the likely effects. Versions with artificial intelligence features have become more recently available. The most advanced versions can provide prescriptive analyses that recommend which actions people should take. Such data can steer them in the right direction when differentiating between various choices, including many that seem extremely similar.
Additionally, AI-powered digital twins can help people determine if now is the right time to invest in certain innovations they believe will positively impact their adaptability and profits. Since a digital twin provides a consistent environment for running simulations, enables users to experiment and see the likely outcomes before finalizing decisions.
For example, a pharmaceutical clean room classification is a numerical designation based on the size and amount of particulate matter. However, the classification system varies on factors such as the associated regulatory body and the country where the company operates. On one commonly used scale, the lower the number, the stricter the associated contamination control. However, other methods concern a letter grade on a four-point scale. Suppose leaders wanted to investigate the technologies required for a Class 3 clean room versus one classified as a Class 4 facility.
Digital twins can clarify what is needed to make a clean room achieve a particular class ranking. It is then easier for executives to plan and justify their investments.
Centering Clean Room Design on Quality Control
As a facility’s design teams ponder specifics such as pharmaceutical clean room classification and airflow models, they must also examine the bigger picture. How can they make strategic choices that will increase the company’s likelihood of maintaining high quality control?
One possibility is to implement room features to reduce electrostatic discharge. It causes the destruction or degradation of sensitive components. It is particularly problematic for pharmaceutical companies operating both medication and device divisions. If a device such as an insulin pump performs unexpectedly due to an electrostatic discharge issue that occurred in the factory, the associated brand could experience severe reputation-based repercussions.
Some control programs include measures to safeguard equipment or components at risk of damage from electricity that is at least to 100 volts on the human body model, which measures electrostatic discharge from people. That is the most common source, making it necessary for designers to find practical solutions for curbing it. Possibilities such as flooring materials that dissipate or neutralize electrostatic discharge are excellent foundational options in clean room design.
Another innovative quality control-related measure is to install various connected sensors that give managers and other designated personnel real-time statistics about particle counts, occupancy levels and more. Then, they can immediately see if specific conditions could interfere with quality control and respond accordingly before costly outcomes occur.
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Cleanroom workers - designed by Tim Sandle
Prioritizing Sustainability and Waste Reduction
Many pharmaceutical executives want to capitalize on the many ways to operate more sustainably. That might mean installing solar panels on some of their buildings. Since statistics show the prices for such systems have dropped by 88% in 11 years, that opportunity is an increasingly affordable one. However, resource conservation can occur inside clean rooms, too.
A commonly utilized option is to make the facilities well-insulated, and more energy-efficient as a result. Additionally, decision-makers can select products made from recycled materials and buy used equipment rather than new items when applicable. All those seemingly small measures add up to create meaningful sustainability gains that can inspire peers and position pharmaceutical brands as eco-friendly pioneers to watch.
Alternatively, leaders may determine that automation investments are among the best ways to operate sustainably by reducing waste and remaining more mindful of resource usage. In such cases, people can achieve impactful results without making all-encompassing changes. For example, one high-tech clean room in a pharmaceutical factory has an automated filling station. It palletizes, labels and straps products without human intervention, improving workflows and freeing people up for other tasks.
Although many individuals think of waste as a physical thing to minimize, it also manifests as delays or underutilized skills. When people choose automation to support their sustainability aims in pharmaceutical facilities, they typically find the advantages span further than initially envisioned.
A Bright Future for Clean Room Design
Although these are some of the most widely applied trends by clean room designers, people can expect to see more of them for the foreseeable future. The performance-centric efforts explored here connect to executives’ desire to remain competitive and meet high expectations in a demanding industry.
Pharmaceutical Microbiology Resources (https://www.pharmamicroresources.com/)
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