Sartorius Lab Instruments GmbH & Co. KG

Sartorius is a global leader in supplying pharmaceutical and laboratory equipment, covering the segments of bioprocess solutions as well as lab products & services.

Sartorius is manufacturing a high number of variants and thus are faced with a multitude of related requirements on their production system. New variants must be easily incorporated; extensions must be modular and seamlessly integrable. For modular, flexible and automated production that enables these goals, the asset administration shell is a key technology. Many different aspects must be addressed: How can products and their numerous variants be efficiently described? How can production services be implemented in a configurable and exchangeable way? How can existing devices and services be integrated? How can the resulting data and information be recorded and used to improve production?

In close cooperation with Fraunhofer IESE, Sartorius used Eclipse BaSyx to develop a modern system architecture with asset administration shells that meets these challenges. By using the standard components of Eclipse BaSyx, rapid success was achieved and a modular, versioned and flexible production was developed in an efficient and standardised approach.

As a result of the project, a highly modular, versioned and distributed production system was created according to state-of-the-art development practices around Industry 4.0 and Asset Administration Shells. The system enables Sartorius to respond quickly and efficiently to customer requests. Thanks to its high modularity, new products and product configurations can be seamlessly integrated into the existing system and existing production components can be replaced - for example, for increased automation. With the help of Eclipse BaSyx, Sartorius can concentrate on implementing the use cases themselves without having to deal in detail with the necessary digital twin infrastructure. By implementing with Asset Administration Shells, Sartorius can now directly use the added value of the Eclipse BaSyx and AAS ecosystem and link many other third-party applications such as graphical user interfaces for AAS. In consequence, the system created can be easily expanded and Sartorius is optimally equipped for future requirements of new products and product variants as well as changes in the process.

Name: Sartorius Lab Instruments GmbH & Co. KG

Headquarters: Goettingen, Germany

Number of employees: approx. 14,000 (as of 2021)

Sector: Medical and Laboratory Technology, Industrial Metrology & Sensors