Cipla’s Indore plant joins WEF’s Lighthouse Network

Cipla yesterday announced that its Indore Oral Solid Dosage (OSD) plant has been designated by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as an ‘Advanced Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) Lighthouse.’ This is the first Cipla facility to receive the coveted recognition, a statement from Cipla has said.

The Global Lighthouse Network (GLN) is an exclusive community of manufacturing leaders from across sectors who depict an accelerated adoption of 4IR technologies to transform factories, value chains and business models for resilience, growth and sustainability, the statement informed.

It also mentioned that over the course of two years, Cipla deployed ‘Digital Automation Analytics’ (DAA) across a network of 22 Indian sites in parallel to unlock end-to-end costs, productivity and quality leadership. The company’s Indore OSD facility led this journey with over 30 4IR use cases, spanning Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), digital, advanced analytics, Natural Language Processing (NLP), robotic process automation, etc. These revolutionary technologies (along with other classic levers) resulted in reduced manufacturing cost, greater agility and speed. The impact generated across multiple fronts at the OSD facility includes 23 per cent rise in productivity, 28 per cent decrease in specific Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and quality enhancement.

Geena Malhotra, Global Chief Technology Officer, Cipla said in the statement, “We are redefining benchmarks in pharma by being the early adopters of 4IR technologies at scale. Our digital transformation initiatives are ensuring greater agility, speed, process simplification, higher efficiencies and faster resolution of challenges. It has also aided in integrating sustainability into the core of our manufacturing operations, which is a key enabler of our ESG commitments.”

With Cipla deploying 4IR technologies in 22 sites simultaneously, the company has adopted a digital transformation approach that is ‘at-scale by design.’ Overall, this has supported the company’s endeavour of pioneering access to high-quality affordable drugs, globally, despite rising challenges of volatility, steep price cuts and growing input costs, added the statement.

GLN, Francisco Betti, Head, Shaping the Future of Advanced Manufacturing and Value Chains, WEF, also said in the statement, “Global disruptions have highlighted the fragility of current supply chains – as rising inflation and material shortages are increasing pressure on manufacturing organisations, Lighthouses show that scaling the deployment and adoption of 4IR technologies across multiple factories and business functions is key to accelerate the achievement of their strategic imperatives, such as business growth, resilience and greener operations.”

The facility will be introduced as a new member of the lighthouse network today, comprising a discussion with lighthouse leaders. During the discussion, Umang Vohra, Managing Director and Global CEO, Cipla, will share how his company is leveraging 4IR technology to transform its operations and shape a more resilient, sustainable, and human-centric future of manufacturing.