Modular Automation (MTP)
From the standard to a running plant.
MTP has arrived: the standard is in place, vendors ship modules with an MTP file, and orchestration systems are available to buy. And yet between “we want to go modular” and a plant that runs orchestrated in everyday operation lies a series of decisions that call for experience: Which functions belong in the module, and which in the orchestration layer? How good is the MTP file your supplier delivers, really? How do recipes, batches and documentation fit into your existing landscape? And who explains the whole thing to quality assurance?
That is exactly where I work with you.
What I do for you
- Assessment
- Where do your plant, your lab and your team stand? What does modularization concretely bring you, and what doesn’t it? You get an honest assessment and a recommendation on how to get started.
- Concept
- Scoping the modules and their services, the role of orchestration, integration with recipe management, batch and documentation. Vendor-neutral in the evaluation, in full depth with zenon.
- Pilot
- Connect the first modules, orchestrate the first recipe, and test real-world fitness with the people who will work with it later. Not in the conference room, but at the plant.
- Support through to operation
- Review supplier MTP files, define engineering standards, enable your team. Until you no longer need me.
How I know this
Merck KGaA, Darmstadt
One of the first Process Orchestration Layers worldwide
When Merck set out to build an orchestration layer for modular lab plants, MTP was still in its infancy: no system to buy, no proven concept, just a standard that had yet to find its shape in practice. I worked my way into the standard, programmed the first PEAs myself and led the development of the POL.
Together with lab technicians and process specialists, I stood in the lab, verified real-world fitness and took the system through to market readiness. In July 2022, Merck presented the solution publicly, as the first company in the chemical industry to do so.
Finding someone who doesn’t know MTP from the textbook but helped develop it from the ground up is rare. With me you don’t get a theorist, but someone who knows where things get stuck in practice and how to solve them.
For zenon users: my engineering credo
After nine years at COPA-DATA, I know zenon, the Batch module and MTP orchestration in depth. I work by a credo I adopted from an international pharma customer: easy to deploy, easy to maintain.
In concrete terms: consistently web-enabled, no VBA, VSTA or add-ins, implementation as Smart Object templates. The result is projects that are easy to migrate and maintain for years, even by people who weren’t there when they were built.