In October 2022 Sanofi and Dassault Systemes announced a partnership to optimise Sanofi’s “EVolutive Facilities” (EVF). These are “state-of-the-art” manufacturing sites powered by “big data and digital”, and Sanofi describes them as the “future of vaccine manufacturing”.
EVFs
Sanofi is currently constructing two EVFs in Singapore and France. The company indicates that these will increase capacity at the same time as “making production more flexible and respectful of the environment”. The benefits that Sanofi identifies range from efficiency to sustainability.
- Up to 4 vaccines can be produced simultaneously on the same production site
- It will take about 12 days to go from producing one vaccine to another
- Nearly carbon-neutral using green electricity or power from the site’s own solar panels
Dassault Systemes
Dassault’s “Made to Cure for BioPharma” industry solution experience will “design, implement, qualify, and operate modular production lines” at the EVFs. Dassault indicated that a “virtual twin” will allow Sanofi to “visualise and simulate the recipe, equipment, and consumables that a particular process requires”. Dr Claire Biot of Dassault Systemes suggests that the pandemic highlighted the importance of BioPharmas being able to “maximise efficiency and quickly provide high-quality, innovative therapeutics to patients worldwide”.
“Sanofi is responding to this challenge with next generation modular manufacturing that can transform the speed at which products reach patients.”
Ana Alves, EVolutive Facility GLobal Project Head & Site Head of Neuville sur Saone, Sanofi, emphasised the importance of giving people “faster access to vaccines and treatments while minimising the environmental impacts of our activities”.
“Dassault Systèmes delivers the technology we need to accelerate the introduction of new products in the facility by supporting the collaborative works of our teams and by strengthening the standardization of designs and models. It will also bring capabilities to reach our objective to produce several products in the EVF in an optimized schedule, thanks to the digital twin. Then, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform will help us to address the complexity of the product lifecycle management in a highly regulated environment and for the benefit of our patients.”
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