On July 19, 2024, Mr. Mihir Mehta, Wholetime Director at Praj HiPurity Systems, participated in a roundtable discussion organized by Business Today in Mumbai. The event focused on the future of smart manufacturing in the life sciences industry, bringing together experts from various domains to explore the potential of digital transformation and the challenges faced by pharmaceutical and biotech companies.

Key Discussion Points

The roundtable, moderated by Mr. Siddharth Zarabi, Managing Editor of Business Today TV, highlighted several key areas:

• Digital Transformation: The discussion emphasized the role of technologies like AI, IoT, 5G, and Industry 5.0 in enhancing manufacturing processes.
• Productivity and Error Reduction: Experts stressed the importance of leveraging technology to boost productivity and minimize human errors.
• Regulatory Compliance: Ensuring high-quality standards and compliance with regulatory requirements was underscored as crucial for industry success.
• User-Friendly Automation: The need for automation solutions that are both user-friendly and affordable was emphasized to increase market adoption in life science manufacturing.

Mr. Mihir Mehta's Viewpoints

During the discussion, Mr. Mehta shared his insights on how Praj HiPurity Systems is contributing to the evolution of smart manufacturing in the life sciences sector. He highlighted the company's efforts in providing tailored solutions that integrate cutting-edge technology to enhance efficiency and compliance.

Mr. Mehta emphasized the importance of adopting Industry 5.0 principles, which focus on human-centric and sustainable manufacturing practices. He noted that while digital transformation offers immense opportunities for growth, it also requires careful consideration of the unique challenges faced by the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, such as maintaining high-quality standards and ensuring regulatory compliance. Additionally, Mr. Mehta emphasized that successful implementation of smart manufacturing technologies will depend on collaboration between industry leaders, technology providers, and regulatory bodies to create a supportive ecosystem.

Read More

To delve deeper into Mr. Mihir Mehta's thoughts and insights from the roundtable discussion, click here to explore his excerpts and learn more about the future of smart manufacturing in life sciences.

India's semiconductor industry is rapidly emerging as a critical sector for economic and technological advancement. As the nation strives to become a global hub for chip manufacturing, understanding the nuances of this complex industry is paramount. While government initiatives and investments are vital, the often-unseen element of ultrapure water plays a pivotal role in ensuring the quality and success of semiconductor production.

Ultrapure Water: The Unsung Hero of Semiconductor Manufacturing

Ultrapure water is much purer than bottled mineral water and is held to much stricter standards than even distilled water. Ultrapure water plays a vital role in the production of highly sensitive materials, such as those utilized in the semiconductor industry for source materials, in the fabrication of nano-fine ceramic materials, and in the nuclear power industry for specialized water applications. Semiconductor manufacturing requires extremely pure water and large amounts of cold water. The water can be recycled but requires a fresh supply of highly purified water.

Even the smallest impurity in the water can affect the performance and reliability of an electronic component. Therefore, ultrapure water, which is free from impurities, contaminants, and minerals, is seen as an essential part of semiconductor manufacturing.

Praj HiPurity Systems: Pioneering Ultrapure Water Management

Praj HiPurity Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Praj Industries, is a pioneer in the field of hygienic water management through the latest technology platforms. With over 600 water projects worldwide for various industries including pharmaceuticals, biopharmaceuticals, cosmetics, nutraceuticals, electronics, and allied industries, Praj HiPurity Systems offers expertise in designing, engineering, production, and distribution of Ultrapure water systems. Their state-of-the-art, largest integrated multi-capability manufacturing facility provides best-in-class plants & systems embedded with new-age automation. Delivering ultrapure water calls for the highest level of expertise & know-how of unit purification processes for producing ultrapure water free of chemical impurity and minimal bioburden, quintessential for the semicon industry.

To gain deeper insights into the role of ultrapure water, read this insightful interview featured in Machine Maker Magazine on 5th July,2024.

Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver. -Ayn Rand

While making a high value purchase either in personal life or during the life cycle of a project in professional life, we always come across a situation where we need to strike a balance between the extra money we spend for buying an equipment versus the anticipated/estimated savings in life cycle cost of the equipment during the operation or utilization of the equipment.

Most of the time the dilemma is whether to spend now and save later or save now and spend later. One of the ways to be able to reconcile with this dilemma is to systematically look at various perspectives.

A. Evaluate Life Cycle cost

We calculate the life cycle cost of the Component comprising of the 3 C’s – CC+OC+RC

• Capital Cost (CC) of buying the equipment
• Operating cost (OC) for running the equipment including consumables/Manpower/utilities
• Replacement cost (RC) for the maintenance of the equipment (End of Life replacements)

B. Full Time Utilization (FTU)

Let’s understand the importance of FTU. Most of the times while calculating the operating cost, we estimate the plant or the component to run at 100% capacity from day one of the operation, whereas the actual scenarios may be quite different. Typically in a Green Field or Brown Field project, the 100% capacity of the plant in usually achieved after atleast couple of years of operation and till such time the plant is operating usually at lower capacity. In such scenarios, typically the payback period or the breakeven point in the project or component life cycle (i.e. where the Capex + Opex starts actual savings for the project) is generally stretched beyond estimated time.

Hence it is important that while comparing the CAPEX & OPEX of 2 choices the following are thought through -

1) Capex Cost:

Including -

• Cost of Equipment
• Finance or interest cost on additional spend
• Any additional components required to fulfill the requirements while using alternate option

2. Opex Cost:

Including -

• Operating cost of producing the intended end product (i.e. Utilities/cleaning or operating chemicals/Consumables/Manpower/Cost of Treatment of Effluents or Byproducts/Etc.)
• Replacement cost for End of Life components. These costs are most times directly dependent on the life of the components and not the output or the hours of operation of the plant (FTU perspective).

While calculating the Opex of the plant we need to understand the project Life cycle and estimate in what time frame shall the plant start working to full capacity. Till such time is established or estimated the Opex has to be calculated on pro rata basis on actual running hours of the plant which typically is 3-4 hours a day till the production demand arises and typically the time frame for such period will average anything between 18 months to 36 months depending on the end product produced, regulatory reviews, process readiness, etc.

In a rather Ideal situation the payback or the breakeven period for Capex + Opex spend while comparing 2 competitive products or Technologies, if is less than 5-6 years - one can say the money is wisely spent. After all it is YOU as the driver that will have to bring a calculative approach to strike the right balance of CAPEX & OPEX spend!