Background

Reckitt Benckiser Group is a British multinational consumer goods company with its headquarters in Slough, England. Operations are spread in across 60 countries, and its products are sold in nearly 200 countries. Reckitt Benckiser Group is a producer of health, hygiene and home products.
The Reckitt Benckiser Group approached 4Sight Holdings Limited (formerly AGE Technologies) for a complete SCADA System Upgrade that required FDA 21 CFR Part 11 compliance to allow monitoring and tracking of the production of Dettol, at its facility in Jet Park, Elandsfontein.

4Sight Holdings Limited was appointed to design, develop, implement, test, maintain, deploy / deliver to site, as well as install, commission and perform validation of the SCADA System. A full handover and training needed to be provided, along with provide 24/7 after sales support for the duration of the warranty.

Business Challenges
A few key challenges needed to be addressed as per issued User Requirements Specifications.

• Efficiency: The existing System was on average only 18% efficient, resulting in lost production and increased wastage. Consistency was a problem that needed to be resolved.
• Design: There appeared to be some design / implementation flaws and / or omissions such as insufficient instrumentation or incorrect locations, along with unplanned outages / lost recipe set point and actual variables due to power and other outages.
• Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP): The system did not comply with GMP best practices and it was possible to override key control points without due process. The system also did not provide appropriate records / level of detail of this, nor batch related information. It also wasn’t very user-friendly, allowing mistakes to slip in.

Requirements of the upgraded SCADA system:
Batching and Recipe management needed to be implemented with redundant servers and network to minimise the possibility of down time and to ensure the high quality of Dettol, with a historian for the purpose of tracking previous made batches. Remote access to the SCADA system was also a requirement.

The 4Sight OT Asset Automation Solution
AGE Technologies designed a SCADA upgrade solution that incorporated AVEVA and Siemens technologies. A redundant InIn-touchh SCADA was integrated with FDA 21 CFR Part 11 compliant Aveva Redundant InBatch batching application. A S71500 Siemens CPU was used for control of the plant.
Key features of AGE’s solution included:

• Redundant Fibre ring;
• Redundant SACDA Application;
• Redundant Batching Application;
• Multi-user approval for recipe hold points,
• Remote access of plant to minimise down time;
• Enhanced operator awareness by implementing situational awareness philosophy in the SCADA application.

Advantages of the SCADA upgrade for Reckitt Benckiser
Consistency, safety and accuracy are extremely important factors for companies producing products in the Pharmaceutical industry. The upgraded SCADA system by AGE Technologies supported these factors by ensuring high plant availability and easy product traceability. It also allowed excellent flexibility in recipe procedure, provided enhanced batch application capabilities with the ArchestrA platform integration. Maximum utilisation of equipment was achieved for increased performance and productivity.
Consistent quality of products is now easier to achieve, and material management was improved. Management will benefit from running the plant from the Operator station and from the Lab Area. As required, the system also complies to FDA 21 CFR Part 11 Manufacturing standards.

The Results for Reckitt Benckiser Group
The facility can now enjoy the advantages of a high performing SCADA And Batching application. 24/7 Access to plant status and system diagnostics ensures problems are resolved easily, and downtime is kept at a minimum. The comprehensive electronic batch record and reporting capabilities ensure that relevant and accurate data is available to aid in decision-making, problem detecting and process monitoring.