When the German Chancellor arrives for the topping-out ceremony, you know that a building is special. In the case of Bayer's factory, however, a glance at the costs is enough to make this realization: the pharmaceutical giant is spending EUR 275 million on new the new plant “Solida 1” for drug production in Leverkusen, Germany. It is scheduled to go into operation in 2026, around five years after the start of construction.
With the new building, Bayer is initially creating new capacities for the production of medicines for the treatment of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. These are being built specifically in Europe, as the stress tests for supply chains in recent years have shown how important regional availability has become in times of deglobalization trends. Solida 1 is therefore just one of several projects that are part of a multi-billion euro investment program by Bayer to strengthen the production network for solid pharmaceuticals.
A factory that learns
However, the pharmaceutical giant also wants to strengthen its innovative power. Solida 1 will make a significant contribution to this: as a “learning factory”, the plant will set “standards for efficiency, quality, delivery reliability and sustainability”, according to Bayer and its project partner Siemens. It goes without saying that artificial intelligence is now an integral part of this. AI will analyze data streams across all production steps and derive recommendations for action.
In Leverkusen, these data streams will also flow from information that is particularly valuable in batch production. Process automation, which is based on the Sipat software from Siemens, monitors numerous process steps in real time during production by automatically taking samples and analyzing them. This means no more lost batches - instead, quality can be optimized during production.
Glatt also made a significant contribution to the process automation of Solida 1. As a system integrator, the plant manufacturer and engineering service provider was already involved in the concept phase. During the construction phase, Glatt was responsible for the delivery, installation and commissioning of systems and also for the process equipment from other suppliers.