WOW, a biotech company located in Namur, went bankrupt despite the success of its “wave ball”, which is very popular in the United States. Fortunately a Naninne-based company, CISEO, decided to take over the company, hire a large part of its staff and specialize in the manufacture of robots and machines for the pharmaceutical industry. CISEO is specializing in technologies solutions development for life sciences sectors like the pharmaceutical, the biotech and the medical sector. It also adapts itself to the market by integrating the industry 4.0
The pharmaceutical industry is a major sector in Belgium. It employs nearly 30,000 people and its exports account for more than 10% of the total volume of Belgian exports. It invests each year more than EUR1.5 billion in Research and Development. However success has consequences on the Health industry revenues for the coming years (encouraging the use of generics, loss of patents, tougher regulations, etc.) The pharmaceutical industry chose to automate and to enter, as others sectors, in the industry 4.0. This concept is a new way to organize the means of production. The aim is to set up new “smart” factories which are able to achieve greater adaptability in production and more efficient allocation of resources. So companies of this very specialized sector have to adapt themselves; change their organisation, especially regarding their means of productions which are becoming increasingly automated. That’s where the Namur-based company CISEO comes in by supporting its customers in this transformation.
CISEO created four robots which supply a pre-filled syringes production line with 600 containers per minute or 10 containers per second. This high-frequency handling system was recently delivered to one of its customer, an important French pharmaceutical group. These machines are manufactured in respect of the standards and norms applied in the pharmaceutical industry and are intended to be used in clean rooms. They are entirely made of stainless materials. The control-command system has specific interfaces to be connected with the company’s network. It has different user access levels in order to ensure security, integrity and data traceability.
Manufacturing and developing these machines was possible through the combination of a specialized design office and an important integration workshop but also thanks to CISEO's shareholding, which is composed of three private companies: Citius Engineering, Lasea and Unisensor as well as two public funding organizations: SRIW and Meusinvest. These companies, which allow CISEO to expand, also enable it to move in June into a new building of 4500 square metres, more adequate and modern, and to hire new profiles that will complement the team of about 30 engineers and technicians.
