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Industry 4.0 technologies allow your business to improve efficiency, enhance the service you offer to customers, and increase profitability in your current manufacturing operations. These are compelling reasons for developing and implementing an Industry 4.0 strategy. Industry 4.0 is about more than enhancing and improving your business operations, though. The technologies, processes, and ways of …

The Impact of Industry 4.0 on New Business Opportunities in Pharma and MedTech Read More »

Manufacturing operations globally are seeing disruption they have never experienced before as a result of the COVID-19 emergency. The focus in the early weeks of the crisis was about understanding and adapting to the dramatically changed situation while those manufacturing essential products like food, medicines, PPE, and medical devices dealt with the challenge of meeting …

Industry 4.0 and the Manufacturing Industry in a Post COVID-19 World Read More »

  Phase: Design Analyse the requirements, objectives, and impact of the change in addition to assessing the expected outcomes during the project’s design stage. Step 1: Assess the Change Request Step 2: Assess the Impact Step 3: Document the Expected Outcomes Phase: Implementation Implement the change in a sandbox or similar safe environment and then …

Infographic: Change Management Steps in Validated Systems Read More »

OEE – Overall Equipment Effectiveness – has long been a performance measurement used in factories to reduce costs, improve quality, increase capacity, and more. The objective is always to optimise OEE. How can Smart Factory technologies help with this optimisation? Let’s first quickly define the Smart Factory. It’s a complex picture but, at its simplest, …

How Smart Factory Solutions Improve OEE in Modern Manufacturing Facilities Read More »

For many of us, the work experience has become very different over the last week or two. While the coronavirus situation is temporary, we are all having to adapt to new ways of working as part of the national and international effort to slow the spread of the disease while keeping businesses and the economy …

Tips for Working from Home Read More »

How far is your business along the path to becoming a smart factory? Are you increasing your investment in Smart Factory initiatives and projects? Given the competitiveness of the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, and the rapid pace of change, these are important questions to answer. Understanding the scale and nature of the benefits that …

Smart Factory Benefits for Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Manufacturers Read More »

Digital transformation is both an opportunity and a challenge for businesses in all industries. If you are in the pharmaceutical or medical device industries, what does digital transformation mean in the current trading and regulatory environment? What are the next steps you should take? Digital Transformation – the Goal for Pharmaceutical and MedTech Businesses Digital …

Embracing Digital Transformation in the Pharmaceutical and MedTech Industries Read More »

The start of the last decade was a time of upheaval in Ireland. The global financial crash was practically all that was in the news and, like other countries, Ireland was hit hard. One of the immediate outcomes of this was that people in many industries chose to move abroad for career reasons. Roll forward …

Employee Stories – Moving Back to Ireland After Living and Working as an Engineer in Australia Read More »

The more you work in engineering, and the more engineers you work with, the more you understand there is no shortage of ideas. Coming up with new systems, processes, tools, products, ways of working, templates, and procedures is something that engineers do naturally – it’s in our DNA. The real challenge for organisations is harnessing …

Managing Innovation – Capturing and Driving Good Ideas Read More »

Learn more about SL Controls in our new corporate video:  

Today, Amit Patel, Senior Validation Engineer at SL Controls, works with some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical and medical device companies from our office in Maynooth, Dublin. His journey to a career at SL Controls is slightly more unusual, however, than those employees who were born, studied, and/or previously worked here in Ireland. This gives …

Employee Stories – From India, Via Hong Kong, to SL Controls in Dublin – A Validation Engineer’s Journey Read More »

Over the years, SL Controls has completed various projects outside Ireland for clients in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. However, we took this international growth a stage further in 2019 by opening a new office in Florida, USA. We did this through an existing international client we have a strong and long-standing relationship with. …

SL Controls US Expansion Through Existing International Corporate Client Read More »

At SL Controls, we deliver bespoke software solutions to manufacturers in the medical device and pharmaceutical industries. We work with a wide range of clients in these industries, including many of the largest. Our success is built on the quality and commitment of our people. Watch our video to find out more.  

Digital transformation involves more than digitising various aspects and processes of your business. It’s not about adding cool new tech or feature-packed software programmes either. Instead, digital transformation is about digitalising your business, i.e. transforming your production facility into a digital business. This means interconnecting processes within the production line and in other parts of …

Using Outsourcing to Achieve Digital Transformation Success in the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Device Industries Read More »

The development of the smart factory is a key priority for manufacturers in all industries and sectors. It’s part of the digital transformation of business, and it’s essential to remain competitive as well as to meet the needs of consumers and end-users as well as B2B customers and regulators. This all comes under the umbrella …

The Most Important Smart Factory Trends for Pharmaceutical and MedTech Manufacturers in 2020 Read More »

Skills gaps can arise in your organisation for several reasons. You might, for example, have a project you want to complete to improve productivity, enhance OEE, or give you better management oversight. Regulatory changes, temporary staff shortages, issues that need to be resolved, new product introductions, production line relocations, and changes in business strategy are …

The Benefits of Third-Party Contractor Solutions for Manufacturers with Engineering Skills Gaps Read More »

Digital transformation is now an everyday reality in pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing companies. New and developing technologies create opportunities for digital transformation to take place, but the main driver is strategic planning and decision-making. In other words, senior executives in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries are increasingly prioritising digital transformation. There are good …

Digital Transformation in Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Manufacturing Companies Read More »

At SL Controls, we can help if you need to boost your engineering team. Our professional placement and consultation services will give you the engineering expertise you need either on a short-term or long-term basis. We specialise in providing these services to the pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing industries. Watch our video to find out …

Video: Professional Placement Services for the Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Manufacturing Industries Read More »

At SL Controls, we offer a comprehensive range of Equipment Systems Integration solutions for manufacturers in the Pharmaceutical and Medical Device industries. Our solutions enhance OEE and productivity as well as being fully bespoke. They will also deliver a measureable return on investment. Watch our new video to find out more.    

At SL Controls, we are a vendor-neutral solution provider to the pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing industries. We can work with equipment, platforms, software, and systems from any vendor. In addition, we are not tied to specific vendors when we recommend equipment or platforms to purchase. The benefits of using a vendor-neutral software provider like …

Infographic – Benefits of Using a Vendor-Neutral Solution Provider Read More »

One of the growing trends in the medical device industry is customised products for individual patients. An example is an implant designed specifically for an individual patient. A range of technologies make products like this possible, including new additive manufacturing technologies. Furthermore, customised medical device products offer significant benefits to patients. There are benefits to …

Where Do We Stand with the New EU MDR, Additive Manufacturing, and Customised Medical Devices? Read More »

Risks can enter an automation project at just about any stage. Those risks can result in serious consequences from budget and schedule overruns to unplanned downtime, disrupted supply chains, and more. Therefore, it’s important to de-risk your automation project at every possible stage. This ensures errors are reduced to a minimum as well as ensuring …

8 Essential Elements for De-Risking an Automation Project Read More »

Additive manufacturing involves manufacturing a product by fabricating it layer by layer, building it up. It is sometimes referred to as 3D printing, although the technologies involved and the processes that are available are now more advanced than the term 3D printing indicates. All additive manufacturing techniques differ from traditional manufacturing techniques that produce components/products …

Additive Manufacturing in the Medical Device Industry Read More »

As automation, machine learning, sensor technologies, remote monitoring, artificial intelligence, etc advance, manufacturing companies increasingly rely on bespoke software solutions to achieve their objectives. This includes both fully bespoke solutions and software that is customised according to your requirements. Delivering this type of tailored software to the regulated sector – such as to pharmaceutical or …

Delivering Bespoke Software Solutions to Companies in the Regulated Sector Read More »

Cloud infrastructure and Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions offer significant benefits to manufacturers in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Cloud-based solutions, including SaaS, still need to be validated, however, just like your in-house IT infrastructure. The main difference, of course, is the introduction of third parties to not only provide a service, but …

Qualification of Cloud Infrastructure and SaaS to Demonstrate Regulatory Compliance Read More »

Batch manufacturing is the tried, tested, and trusted approach for manufacturing pharmaceutical products. There is an increasing push, however, for the industry to switch to continuous manufacturing. A key driver of this push is the FDA – the Food and Drug Administration in the US. The FDA believes continuous manufacturing improves product quality, reduces medicine …

Continuous Manufacturing vs Batch Manufacturing in the Pharmaceutical Industry Read More »

The clock is well as truly ticking on the introduction of the new EU MDR (Medical Device Regulations). The process of implementing this new EU directive started in 2017, with it scheduled to come into force on 26 May 2020, i.e. less than a year from now. EU MDR represents a significant change to regulations …

The UDI and Serialisation Requirements of the New EU MDR Read More »

  At SL Controls, we describe the four pillars of successful project delivery as QUAD: Q – Quality U – Utilise A – Accomplish D – Design Quality – The Assurance of a Successful Project Change management Risk management Document control Continuous Utilise – Enabling a Successful Project Resource acquisition Resource retention Resource upskilling Resource …

Infographic – The Four Pillars of Successful Project Delivery Read More »

SL Controls is a company that has deep roots in Sligo. This is where the company was first founded, it’s where we employed our first staff, and it’s the location of our head office. While Sligo remains crucial to our business operations, we now also have other locations around Ireland that are of equal importance. …

How SL Controls’ Investment in Ireland’s Regions Benefits MedTech and Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Read More »

Validation is essential in high-volume, highly regulated manufacturing environments such as manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and medical devices. At SL Controls, we provide a full range of Validation Services. Check out our new video to find out more about our capabilities and experience as well as how we work when delivering Validation Services.