US industrial automation company Rockwell Automation and US life sciences firm Cytiva have jointly launched the Figurate Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, targeting the digital integration challenges that continue to slow biopharmaceutical manufacturing operations.

The development, reported by Bio Spectrum Asia, addresses a persistent pain point in bioprocessing: the inability of proprietary systems from different vendors to communicate with one another.

Equipment fragmentation remains among the most frequently cited operational barriers for biomanufacturers, particularly those scaling programmes from research and development to clinical production. Disconnected systems create data silos, manual workarounds and data integrity risks that add cost and complexity at each stage of the manufacturing process.

Figurate SCADA counters this through an open architecture that supports third-party instrument integration and provides real-time oversight of unit operations from a single interface. The system is designed to work across multiple instrument vendors and modalities, reducing reliance on bespoke connectivity solutions.

The platform aims to reduce human error, accelerate technology transfer and support reliable scale-up as manufacturing workloads increase in complexity. Industry demand for next-generation process control systems is rising as organisations shift towards data-driven process intensification and continuous manufacturing models.

Cytiva is a subsidiary of Danaher Corporation. Rockwell Automation describes itself as the world's largest company dedicated to industrial automation and digital transformation.

The launch places both companies at the intersection of life sciences and industrial digitalisation, a segment attracting increased investment as biopharma firms seek to modernise manufacturing infrastructure ahead of pipeline growth.

Read the full article to learn more about Figurate SCADA's capabilities and deployment model.