PAT is IIoT Ready

Combining process analytical technology (PAT) and the cloud for next-level productivity Process analytical technology (PAT) enables manufacturing and processing companies to continuously enhance their competitiveness in an increasingly fast-paced and demanding market (see part 1, “Process Analytical Technology Advances,” pp. 24–31). The latest advances in data technology — particularly cloud computing — can help create an advanced PAT framework and new opportunities for manufacturers. As a result, companies can improve flexibility, responsiveness, efficiency and quality across an entire enterprise. PAT is among the key solutions that forward-looking businesses should implement when developing smart manufacturing strategies (Figure 1). It is a realtime, data-driven framework that aims to improve process efficiency, resilience and quality by controlling critical process parameters (CPPs) within a pre-defined design space to optimize a product’s critical quality attributes (CQAs) in a timely manner. At the core of this setup is an in-depth, science-based understanding of how CPPs influence CQAs that allows businesses to implement quality-by-design (QbD) practices, where quality is built into products from the early design…