The Pharmaceutical Industry's Digital Transformation Story | Sanovel Succeeded
About the Company
Founded in 1983, Sanovel is one of Türkiye’s leading pharmaceutical companies, distinguished by its strong R&D capabilities, high-quality manufacturing standards, and innovative approach. Operating extensive production facilities across both sterile and non-sterile manufacturing areas, the company manufactures products in compliance with GMP standards and international health regulations.
Driven by a commitment to quality, sustainability, and continuous improvement, Sanovel has established a strong presence in both domestic and global markets. As part of its digital transformation journey, the company partnered with ProManage to make its manufacturing operations more traceable, data-driven, and efficient while strengthening operational excellence across its production processes.
Hilmi Gündoğdu
Reasons for Need
Sanovel’s digital transformation journey was driven by the need to monitor production processes more effectively and gain faster access to accurate data. Since numerous machines and production processes operate simultaneously across different areas of pharmaceutical manufacturing, monitoring the entire operation through manual methods was time-consuming and increased the risk of errors.
The key requirements identified during this process were:
- Real-Time Monitoring: Instantly monitor the status, downtime, operating speed, and efficiency of every production machine from a single screen.
- Reducing Manual Workload: Minimize time loss and the risk of errors caused by paper-based records, Excel spreadsheets, and phone-based communication.
- Easy Access to Historical Data: Quickly review historical downtime, waiting time, speed, and efficiency data to identify the root causes of production issues more accurately.
- Faster Response to Production Issues: Access reports within seconds to detect production disruptions earlier and initiate corrective actions without delay.
With ProManage, Sanovel aimed to make production data more visible, simplify daily operations, and establish a reliable data foundation for continuous improvement initiatives.
Motivation for Choosing and Important Details
Sanovel aimed to reduce the time loss and risk of errors caused by manual monitoring through digital transformation. The ability to monitor production data in real time, analyze historical data with ease, and generate reports quickly made the need for a digital solution increasingly evident.
The following factors played a key role in the solution selection process:
- Previous Positive Team Experience: The Sanovel team had previously used ProManage in different production environments and had already experienced its operational benefits.
- Real-Time Machine Tracking: The ability to monitor machine status, downtime, operating speed, and performance data in real time.
- Advanced Reporting Tools: The ability to quickly analyze historical data through reports and visual dashboards, making it easier to identify weak points and improvement opportunities.
- Seamless ERP Integration: Compatibility with the existing ERP system, enabling work orders and other production data to be transferred seamlessly into the digital platform.
- User-Friendly Shop Floor Interface: A user-friendly interface that allows both operators and managers to use the system efficiently and access reports quickly.
- Adaptability to the Production Environment: Confidence that ProManage could be successfully adapted to Sanovel’s production structure and become an integral part of daily shop floor operations.
Personal Experiences
Sanovel’s experiences throughout its digital transformation journey and the key highlights of the implementation process are summarized below:
- Phased Transition Strategy: Rather than implementing the system across the entire factory at once, it was deployed in two phases. This approach enabled a more controlled and efficient transition process.
- Cultural Transformation: Moving work orders, break records, and downtime records into a digital environment initially required a change in work habits. The transition was successfully supported through regular follow-ups and reminders.
- Technical Collaboration: Technical challenges, including ERP integration, sensor communication, and Wi-Fi connectivity, were successfully resolved through the close collaboration between the Sanovel team and ProManage.
- Employee Engagement: Making production data visible on digital screens encouraged operators to take greater ownership of production processes and actively contribute with improvement suggestions.
- Improved Visibility of Operational Losses: Losses that were difficult to detect through manual monitoring, such as short-duration production stoppages, became much more visible through digital data.
- Remote Production Monitoring: The ability to monitor production operations remotely enabled managers to oversee manufacturing activities more effectively, even when they were outside the factory.
- More Efficient Use of Time: The time previously spent on manual reporting was significantly reduced, allowing teams to focus more on data analysis and continuous improvement initiatives.
What Has ProManage Delivered?
ProManage has delivered significant operational and business benefits to Sanovel throughout its digital transformation journey:
- Real-Time Visibility and Remote Management: Production operations running 24/7 can now be monitored in real time from a single screen, even when managers are outside the factory.
- Faster Reporting and Decision-Making: Weekly and monthly manually prepared reports have been replaced by digital reports that can be accessed within 15–30 seconds, enabling management to make faster and more informed decisions.
- Identification of Hidden Losses: Digital data has revealed that seemingly insignificant 5-minute production stoppages can accumulate into considerable financial and productivity losses over the course of a year.
- More Efficient Use of Time: The time previously spent collecting data and preparing reports in paper-based records and Excel spreadsheets is now dedicated to value-added analysis and continuous improvement activities.
- Greater Ownership and a Stronger Operational Culture: Increased data transparency enables operators to monitor their own performance in real time, encouraging active feedback, continuous improvement, and greater ownership of production processes.
- Operational Efficiency Through Full ERP Integration: Thanks to ProManage’s seamless integration with the ERP system, work orders and production recipes are transferred automatically without requiring manual data entry.
- Energy and Cost Efficiency: By optimizing production processes, energy consumption per unit has been reduced, creating a stronger foundation for sustainability and long-term profitability.
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