{"id":131182,"date":"2025-06-12T08:16:19","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T13:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/?p=131182"},"modified":"2025-06-12T08:16:19","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T13:16:19","slug":"sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/","title":{"rendered":"Sterilization Scheduling Application Eliminates Recipe Control Gap For Pharmaceutical Manufacturer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ignition Transforms Complex Processes &amp; Allows For Long-Term Planning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In an industry like pharmaceuticals, maintaining quality and compliance is a strict requirement, not an optional goal. Outdated or ineffective technologies and methods can not only hamper efficiency, but also stunt growth and potentially affect product quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That was the situation Sandalwood Systems Integration Group found itself in with one customer who was having difficulty bridging the gap between their scheduling application and their ERP system. Sandalwood leveraged <a href=\"https:\/\/inductiveautomation.com\/ignition\/\">Ignition<\/a> \u2014 an industrial automation platform for SCADA, HMI, IIoT, and more \u2014 to deliver a solution that completely revolutionized the customer\u2019s production processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Minding the Gap<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The customer was struggling with a recipe control gap. While their ERP system provided meticulous high-level recipe control and monitoring, the plant floor lacked real-time data as well as access to scheduling and optimization tools, relying instead on an in-house Excel-based application to schedule multiple sterilization lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sterilization scheduling can be a complex process: components must be sterilized in time to feed fill lines, which are predicated on the downstream demand of the final product. On top of that, the existing inventory of sterilized components needs to be considered when determining production quotas. Relying on Excel macros for batch preparation did not offer the flexibility or scalability required to effectively manage the sterilization lines, resulting in a system that could only schedule a few days at a time, hindering long-term planning efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe were initially given a copy of the Excel-based application and asked to duplicate it in Ignition, which acted as our initial requirements,\u201d said Bob Sloma, Digital Transformation Lead &amp; SME, Systems Integration Services at Sandalwood. \u201cAs you can imagine with an Excel-based application, figuring out what they were doing by analyzing the VBA code was a challenging task.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even consulting with the application\u2019s developer, it was a challenge to dig through layers of code and determine which reports were actually being used, as it became evident that certain reports were more vital than others. The Excel application determined the best overall schedule by calculating all possible routings and their overall durations. This brute-force approach could not produce a full schedule without overloading the machine running the application. Clearly, it had reached the limit of its efficacy. \u201cI have significant experience with MRP and production scheduling with my 30-plus years of experience and knew there was a better way to do this,\u201d said Sloma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/inductiveautomation.com\/resources\/casestudy\/sandalwood-scheduler\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Read Case Study<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sponsored content by Inductive Automation<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ignition Transforms Complex Processes &amp; Allows For Long-Term Planning In an industry like pharmaceuticals, maintaining quality and compliance is a strict requirement, not an optional goal. Outdated or ineffective technologies and methods can not only hamper efficiency, but also stunt growth and potentially affect product quality. That was the situation Sandalwood Systems Integration Group found [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131203,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[109325],"tags":[],"tracking-metrics":[],"display-location":[],"class_list":{"2":"type-post"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sterilization Scheduling Application Eliminates Recipe Control Gap For Pharmaceutical Manufacturer - Control Engineering<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sterilization Scheduling Application Eliminates Recipe Control Gap For Pharmaceutical Manufacturer - Control Engineering\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ignition Transforms Complex Processes &amp; Allows For Long-Term Planning In an industry like pharmaceuticals, maintaining quality and compliance is a strict requirement, not an optional goal. Outdated or ineffective technologies and methods can not only hamper efficiency, but also stunt growth and potentially affect product quality. That was the situation Sandalwood Systems Integration Group found [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Control Engineering\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ControlEngineeringMagazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-12T13:16:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/inductiveautomation-sponsored-featured-image-june2025-article2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"770\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Control Engineering Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@controlengtips\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@controlengtips\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Control Engineering Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Control Engineering Staff\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/#\/schema\/person\/29cb3c1794c457f25a7170a363af72dd\"},\"headline\":\"Sterilization Scheduling Application Eliminates Recipe Control Gap For Pharmaceutical Manufacturer\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-12T13:16:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/\"},\"wordCount\":418,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/inductiveautomation-sponsored-featured-image-june2025-article2.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Inductive Automation\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/\",\"name\":\"Sterilization Scheduling Application Eliminates Recipe Control Gap For Pharmaceutical Manufacturer - Control Engineering\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/inductiveautomation-sponsored-featured-image-june2025-article2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-12T13:16:19+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/inductiveautomation-sponsored-featured-image-june2025-article2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/inductiveautomation-sponsored-featured-image-june2025-article2.jpg\",\"width\":770,\"height\":500},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sterilization Scheduling Application Eliminates Recipe Control Gap For Pharmaceutical Manufacturer\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/\",\"name\":\"Control Engineering\",\"description\":\"Control Engineering covers and educates about automation, control and instrumentation technologies\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Control Engineering\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/ce_logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/ce_logo.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":93,\"caption\":\"Control Engineering\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ControlEngineeringMagazine\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/controlengtips\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/control-engineering-magazine\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/#\/schema\/person\/29cb3c1794c457f25a7170a363af72dd\",\"name\":\"Control Engineering Staff\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/97ae33d7fb6f22daeba201f00355919e158689239cd6f0b5f1d55f00e0851241?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/97ae33d7fb6f22daeba201f00355919e158689239cd6f0b5f1d55f00e0851241?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Control Engineering Staff\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/author\/dmiyares\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sterilization Scheduling Application Eliminates Recipe Control Gap For Pharmaceutical Manufacturer - Control Engineering","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sterilization Scheduling Application Eliminates Recipe Control Gap For Pharmaceutical Manufacturer - Control Engineering","og_description":"Ignition Transforms Complex Processes &amp; Allows For Long-Term Planning In an industry like pharmaceuticals, maintaining quality and compliance is a strict requirement, not an optional goal. Outdated or ineffective technologies and methods can not only hamper efficiency, but also stunt growth and potentially affect product quality. That was the situation Sandalwood Systems Integration Group found [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/","og_site_name":"Control Engineering","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ControlEngineeringMagazine","article_published_time":"2025-06-12T13:16:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":770,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/inductiveautomation-sponsored-featured-image-june2025-article2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Control Engineering Staff","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@controlengtips","twitter_site":"@controlengtips","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Control Engineering Staff","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/"},"author":{"name":"Control Engineering Staff","@id":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/#\/schema\/person\/29cb3c1794c457f25a7170a363af72dd"},"headline":"Sterilization Scheduling Application Eliminates Recipe Control Gap For Pharmaceutical Manufacturer","datePublished":"2025-06-12T13:16:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/"},"wordCount":418,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/inductiveautomation-sponsored-featured-image-june2025-article2.jpg","articleSection":["Inductive Automation"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/","url":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/","name":"Sterilization Scheduling Application Eliminates Recipe Control Gap For Pharmaceutical Manufacturer - Control Engineering","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/inductiveautomation-sponsored-featured-image-june2025-article2.jpg","datePublished":"2025-06-12T13:16:19+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/inductiveautomation-sponsored-featured-image-june2025-article2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/inductiveautomation-sponsored-featured-image-june2025-article2.jpg","width":770,"height":500},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/sterilization-scheduling-application-eliminates-recipe-control-gap-for-pharmaceutical-manufacturer\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sterilization Scheduling Application Eliminates Recipe Control Gap For Pharmaceutical Manufacturer"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/","name":"Control Engineering","description":"Control Engineering covers and educates about automation, control and instrumentation technologies","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/#organization","name":"Control Engineering","url":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/ce_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/ce_logo.png","width":300,"height":93,"caption":"Control Engineering"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ControlEngineeringMagazine","https:\/\/x.com\/controlengtips","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/control-engineering-magazine\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/#\/schema\/person\/29cb3c1794c457f25a7170a363af72dd","name":"Control Engineering Staff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/97ae33d7fb6f22daeba201f00355919e158689239cd6f0b5f1d55f00e0851241?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/97ae33d7fb6f22daeba201f00355919e158689239cd6f0b5f1d55f00e0851241?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Control Engineering Staff"},"url":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/author\/dmiyares\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131182"},{"taxonomy":"tracking-metric","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tracking-metrics?post=131182"},{"taxonomy":"display-location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.controleng.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display-location?post=131182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}