Food and pharma symposium!

The conference program for the ISA 2014 Food and Pharmaceuticals Industries Division (FPID) Symposium will feature some of the world’s most accomplished experts in serialization and automation who will speak on the pressing issues affecting food and drug manufacturers and distributors.

2014 ISA FPID Symposium, which will be held 5-6 March 2014 at ISA headquarters in North Carolina (USA), will learn—directly from these industry leaders—how to respond to emerging serialization requirements that are driving major changes in food and pharmaceuticals distribution and calling for highly coordinated strategies that incorporate automation, supply chain management, and information analysis and security.

“We are immensely pleased to have assembled such an outstanding lineup of speakers, experts and presentations at this valuable industry event,” reports  Dennis Brandl, President of BR&L Consulting, Inc., co-chair of the 2014 FPID Symposium. “The challenges facing the food and pharmaceuticals industries are serious and they require a serious examination of the issues. Recent legislation and incidents of contamination and tampering have raised the importance of automation to reduce errors and implement enhanced serialization controls to improve tracking and tracing throughout distribution channels.

“This symposium will provide the essential insights and recommendations—relating to technology, systems, production, logistics, process control, validation, traceability, data access and analysis, cybersecurity and other critical areas—that food and pharmaceuticals manufacturers and distributors need to improve patient safety and reduce operating risks.”

Among the prominent experts and incisive presentations scheduled on the 2014 FPID conference agenda are:

Attendees of the

• Peter Martin, Ph.D., vice president of business value solutions for the Software and Industrial Automation division of Invensys, presenting “Applying Control Theory to the Real-Time Value Chain”
• Janice Abel, group analysis and principal consultant at ARC Advisory Group, presenting “Getting Smarter with Big Data, Analytics and Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence”
• Bryan Singer, principal investigator, Industrial Network/Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity at Kenexis Security Corporation, presenting “Building on Device Vulnerabilities: Attack Mode for ICS”
• Marcus Massingham, I.Eng, MIET, director, Automation/IT at GlaxoSmithkline, presenting “Serialization: An Enterprise Perspective”
• Wendy Haines, Ph.D., validation specialist at Mangan Biopharm; and Amy Lineberry, CPIP, validation engineer at Mangan Biopharm; presenting “Lifecycle Approach to Serialization Process Qualification”
• Baha Korkmaz, PMP, senior vice president, North America at Enterprise System Partners, presenting “Serialization: A Business Perspective”
• Dennis Brandl, president at BR&L Consulting, presenting “Business-to-Shop Floor Integration: The Critical Link in Serialization”
• Jorge Rodriquez, PE, president and CEO of PACIV, presenting “Harmonization of C&Q and CSV Initiatives”
• Desmond Savage, managing director at ATS Applied Tech Systems, presenting “Food Safety and Traceability: MES as an Enabler”
• Dave Adler, PE, automation project management, planning and workforce development expert at Brillig System, and Raymond Teaster, owner and director at Brillig System, presenting “Successfully Managing Automation Projects”
• Tim Mathany, president of ECS Solutions, presenting “ISA-88 Model-Based Control in the Food Industry”
• Mike Baldauff, engineer at FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, presenting “Evaluating Virtualization of a Control System for Use in Production”
• Lee White, project engineer at Avid Solutions, presenting ”Automation System Design Practices”
• Adam Fermier, scientific director at Johnson & Johnson, presenting “Transforming Data into Information: An Engineering Approach”
• Ron Guido, retired vice president of Global Brand Protection and Supply Chain Integrity at Johnson & Johnson, presenting “Confessions of a Counterfeiter”
• Bob Lenich, director of Global Syncade Sales at Emerson Process Management, presenting on Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES)
• Greg Stromberg, process analytics manager at Biogen IDEC, presenting “The Benefits of Modern Data Analysis Techniques in Process Development and Production Scale Cell Culture Processes”
• John Hamel, regional manager at Parsec Automation, and Steve Monaghan, PE, operations manager at Applied Control Engineering, presenting “Why Overall Equipment Effectiveness Isn’t Enough”
• Bill Minaeff, sales manager at Laetus, presenting “Serialization in the Pharma Industries”
• Marc Blekkink, managing director at Ninety-Five, and Guido Rijcken, managing director at Inxites Americas, presenting “ISA-95 Based Data Repository in a Serialization System Landscape”

In addition to benefiting from the stellar conference sessions, 2014 FPID Symposium attendees will tour a local plant to examine specific automation processes in practice.