In a pair of separate announcements, automation giants Honeywell International, Inc. (Charlotte, N.C.) and Siemens AG (Munich, Germany) affirmed their commitment and significant investment in the life sciences and biomanufacturing sector, also signifying the growing capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) across a growing number of industries.
Source: Siemens
Siemens acquires Dotmatics
Siemens is investing some $5.1 billion to acquire Dotmatics, a leading provider of Life Sciences R&D software based in Boston, Mass. This landmark acquisition expands Siemens’ comprehensive Digital Twin technology and AI-powered software into the rapidly growing complementary market of life sciences. Dotmatics offers a market-leading platform with a highly profitable portfolio of scientific applications and multi-modal data management for Life Sciences R&D. The company’s offering accelerates customers’ innovation, delivering next generation collaboration and contextualized data to enable AI-powered multi-modal drug development.
“By acquiring Dotmatics, we’re strategically strengthening our position in Life Sciences and creating a world-leading AI-powered PLM software portfolio as part of Siemens Xcelerator. Artificial Intelligence has emerged as a transformative force across various industries, and its application in Life Sciences is becoming increasingly important”, said Roland Busch, President and CEO of Siemens AG. “The Dotmatics acquisition is part of our ONE Tech Company growth program, enhancing our leading position in industrial software and helping our customers to innovate even faster.”
“The acquisition of Dotmatics drives strong revenue synergies and is highly profitable and cash generative. Financing will be provided primarily through the sale of shares in listed companies, including Siemens Healthineers,” said Ralf P. Thomas, CFO of Siemens AG.
“Following an exciting journey with Insight Partners, where Dotmatics achieved remarkable growth and portfolio expansion, we are thrilled to announce our new chapter with Siemens,” said Thomas Swalla, CEO of Dotmatics. “Combining our next-generation scientific intelligence platform and industry-leading scientific applications together with Siemens’ Digital Twin and AI capabilities, we’ll drive a new wave of innovation in life sciences R&D. Together, we’ll accelerate innovation cycles for our customers and help scientists make breakthrough discoveries faster than ever before shaping the future of scientific innovation.”
Life Sciences presents an attractive complementary software market opportunity and expands Siemens’ industrial software total addressable market by $11 billion. This market is driven by structural shifts, such as increased medication need driven by aging societies and improved access to medicine, new treatment options from advancing science and the necessity for increased collaboration and visibility across complex value chains. These trends underscore the need for digital transformation, with software spending expected to double over the next five years.
Honeywell’s new platform
Honeywell recently introduced TrackWise Manufacturing, an AI-assisted, cloud-native platform designed to transform how life sciences companies manage, automate and digitalize operations. The company says that TrackWise Manufacturing is one of the first in the life sciences industry to offer a revolutionary new approach to workflow management that bridges the gap between the digital and physical manufacturing environments.
Many organizations in the life-sciences manufacturing sector still rely on paper-based methods for workflow management, leading to errors and quality-control issues that cause data to go unused and can delay the introduction of new drugs, resulting in profit loss per drug. To address these challenges, TrackWise Manufacturing enables organizations to digitize operations and automate workflows through AI-assisted processes that can help companies to bring drugs to market faster and safer.
The solution is built on a new containerized platform that allows software applications to run consistently across different computing environments, eliminating the need for complex, siloed integrations. As a result, manufacturers can achieve greater flexibility and efficiency, allowing them to respond quicker to business needs and regulatory changes.
“TrackWise Manufacturing is designed to advance the industry’s siloed systems by leveraging Honeywell’s extensive expertise in automation technologies and life science compliance,” said Pramesh Maheshwari, President of Honeywell Process Solutions. “By embedding AI-assisted workflows, we are leveraging automation to help life science manufacturers reduce technology transfer times and get products to patients faster.”
By harnessing the capabilities of TrackWise Manufacturing, organizations can not only optimize process execution but can also safeguard operational continuity. The platform’s containerized architecture supports flexibility and adaptability, empowering manufacturers to adjust swiftly to evolving market demands while staying compliant with regulatory requirements.
“In the face of economic pressures, shifting market demands, and evolving regulatory requirements, the Life Sciences industry is at an inflection point,” said Daniel R. Matlis, President and Founder at Axendia, Inc. “Industry leaders must seize the opportunity to transform and leverage technological advancements to unify digital quality and manufacturing. Embracing modern technologies, Industry can significantly enhance operational effectiveness, improve product quality, streamline regulatory compliance, and accelerate time to market.”
The platform leverages Honeywell’s established Unit Operations Controller (UOC) for critical control functions while seamlessly embedding an industry-first quality framework that promotes true quality-by-design manufacturing. By embedding quality metrics into the manufacturing process, this framework changes how manufacturers handle production and compliance, which can ultimately result in faster time to market for products.