Why so compli­cated when it could be so simple? That, according to Franziska Unseld, Product Manager at Uhlmann, basi­cally sums it up. “Currently, there are multiple different soft­ware solu­tions in the phar­ma­ceu­tical industry that are designed as stand-alone appli­ca­tions and lack homo­geneity,” she says. “Pexcite is a tech­no­log­ical basis that allows many different solu­tions to be merged behind one inter­face that every oper­ator can use intu­itively.”

Total connec­tivity thanks to Pexcite

Pexcite links machines and equip­ment, collects produc­tion-related data, and presents it clearly in dash­boards. This allows customers to retrieve produc­tion data quickly and easily. Pexcite is inten­tion­ally not limited to Uhlmann machines: “We are manu­fac­turer-inde­pen­dent. This is one of our major advan­tages,” says Unseld. “This means that it’s not just Uhlmann machines that interact with Pexcite, but also those of other suppliers”. The whole idea is to inter­link machines and equip­ment flex­ibly and inde­pen­dently of the manu­fac­turer. “Pexcite’s vision is to have a plat­form in the future that provides a broad range of solu­tions for the respec­tive stake­holders – from raw mate­rials right down to the patient; in other words, one that spans the entire value chain”, says Franziska Unseld.

From SOFTWARE SUITE to Pexcite

Unseld super­vised the launch and marketing activ­i­ties. As product manager, she acted as an inter­face to sales and tech­nical product devel­op­ment, and recalls very clearly how it all began with Pexcite. “At our 2019 in-house exhi­bi­tion, the Phar­mazing Days, we presented the beta version to customers, which, at the time, was still called SOFTWARE SUITE. But by then it was already clear what features the plat­form would later include.” Encour­aged by posi­tive feed­back from our customers, the project group decided at the end of the year to expand the soft­ware plat­form and to follow up by looking at marketing approaches.

“The project group was made up of colleagues from sales, marketing, product devel­op­ment and product manage­ment. In regular weekly meet­ings, we discussed issues concerning the busi­ness model, pricing, promo­tion and the global rollout,” says Unseld. “We subse­quently intro­duced Pexcite to our colleagues in August 2020, and it then made its debut with a customer at the end of November 2020.” NOVO NORDISK is based in Denmark and installed Pexcite for the first time on the shop floor of its plant in Durham, USA.

Super­vi­sory Control, Track & Trace – the right solu­tion for every customer

Pexcite uses a modular design and can thus be flex­ibly adapted entirely according to the customer’s needs. Initially, we will be offering two solu­tions via the Pexcite plat­form: Track & Trace and Super­vi­sory Control. With the latter, the machines in a pack­aging line are no longer controlled indi­vid­u­ally, but as a line. This saves time. “The customer only has to enter the order infor­ma­tion once. Then it’s down to me, as the oper­ator, to control the soft­ware via a panel – this can either be on the machine or at the end of the line using an oper­ator terminal. But produc­tion managers, for example, can also view the status of the order in the office, so they also benefit from Pexcite,” says Unseld.

“The appli­ca­tions are designed to work inde­pen­dently – but each builds on the other. We offer customers various pack­ages that we call “Essen­tial” for the entry-level version, “Profes­sional”, which is the most commonly used variant, and, finally, “Enter­prise” which is the premium upgrade level.” You can’t get much more flex­ible than that – and specific inter­faces are also avail­able to address indi­vidual customer needs.

“We will continue to move forward in the future and keep offering new prod­ucts on Pexcite, and will also actively start selling them soon”, says Unseld. “First of all, we will approach existing customers, and then those customers who have neither machinery nor soft­ware from us to date.”