MOPP. Made to Order Process Plants

New reactor technologies are set to change the operation of batch manufacture in the process industries into the "new
wave" of semi-continuous Make to Order Processing Plants (MOPP). These have the potential to transform these sectors
by reducing the environmental burden, inventories and cost of manufacture and distribution. This project develops an
adaptive 'Dial a Product' control system to deliver the precise control required for these unique high value low volume
manufacturing systems. Bringing together control design and analytical techniques to complement these reactors will
enable the system to reach optimum performance and have commercial impact. The solution will offer the chance to
change the very way the industry operates. Instead of investing in a number of product specific batch reactors, a single
reactor will be used for a number of applications, allowing companies to reduce CAPEX or even work on a rental basis,
bringing in reactors as required.

The outcomes of the proposed research will lead to broad ranging impact. New process control capabilities will open up
opportunities for those concerned with the scale-up and manufacture of novel, high-value particulate products. Improved
control combined with the new reactor technology will reduce manufacturing waste product by 8-15% and energy
consumption by 40-70% by significantly reducing non value added activities such as storage costs and transporting
unnecessary volumes of materials with their associated energy and environmental costs. The reactor being developed in
this research typically has less than 5% of the solvent hold-up compared to a batch reactor, and involves less manual
intervention enhancing safety. The use of the new technologies would allow more cost effective and affordable drugs to be
developed, improving quality of life and it's associated economic benefits. The project would open up links with the wider
process industries and promote the work done at the EPSRC Centre in Strathclyde and at the Catapult CPI facility on
Teesside. This project will deliver the opportunity for the UK to create HVM related jobs in the UK, as the benefits of
transporting a product half way around the world are greatly reduced when it is possible to make it in the UK for a
competitive delivered costs without the problems associated with global delivery routes and import regulations. A
successful outcome would be to generate ca. 20 jobs in the technology companies involved in the project and their supply
chain. In addition manufacturing jobs could be brought back to the UK through the "Patent Box" tax regime, and end-user
supply chain jobs would be created. AstraZeneca would reduce OPEX and gain the ability to make product with shorter
development times, allowing more bespoke run sizes. Advanced control typically reduces off-spec production by 40% and
re-work by 10%. The operating companies will benefit from lower delivered costs to the customers offering the potential to
increase market share and profits plus more sustainable operations. New opportunites to manufacture a wider variety of
small volume, high-value drug products will be enabled through flexible small to medium scale manufacturing thus allowing
companies new opportunites to take new drugs or existing drugs for new applications to market more cost effectively. UK
intensified reactor and agile equipment design companies will exploit the learning for their commercial benefit. The UK will begin to be perceived as a cost competitive environment to manufacture HVM process product sand the potential for the
UK to re-establish itself as a location for the design, manufacture and supply of process HVM processing plants.