Representative End User Clients
Representative Automation Clients
Representative Software Clients
ARC’s European Industry Forum is part of our successful series of worldwide conferences in Europe, America and Asia. The next European Forum will be held in Sitges (Barcelona), Spain on May 4-6, 2026 and focus on “Achieving Resilient Operations through AI, Digitalization, and Sustainability”. Participants are invited to attend exclusive presentations and workshops on strategies and case studies from the digital front lines.
Plenary Session: Accelerating MES Migration
Manufacturing plants often face the challenge of modernizing operations within brownfield environments characterized by legacy systems, paper based processes, and fragmented automation landscapes. Almirall’s Integrated Factory Program addresses this challenge by deploying a harmonized Manufacturing Execution System (MES) and a robust IT/OT integration strategy structured around ISA 95 and ISA 88 standards. Their experience will be presented in this plenary session titled: “Accelerating MES Migration Through IT/OT Integration and Standardized Interoperability Models”.
The program defines a set of 14 transactional building blocks that standardize interactions between MES (Level 3) and shop floor automation (Level 2), enabling consistent management of recipes, batch context, parameter loading, equipment integration, process values, alarms, and exception handling.
To operationalize this model, Almirall has implemented a flexible Automation Integration Layer based on message based communication using the MSI protocol. This architecture supports bidirectional IT/OT data exchange, ensures GMP compliant data integrity, and integrates both modern and legacy equipment through configurable, modular, and scalable components. The approach significantly reduces custom engineering time, accelerates deployment, and enables “plug & produce” capabilities for future Industry 4.0/5.0 initiatives.
This Plenary session will be presented by Francesc Luque, MES/MOM Director of Almirall, has 30-year of experience in digital manufacturing and automation in pharma and process industries. He leads their Integrated Factory program; an initiative to digitalize Almirall’s Manufacturing Operations globally.
He is supported by Jacob Trummer, Business Development Manager for Manufacturing EMEA at COPA-DATA, working with customers and partners on industrial digitalization and automation projects, with a focus on applying the zenon software platform in manufacturing environments.
ARC’s European Industry Forum
Join us at ARC’s European Industry Forum to speed up your digitalization and sustainability initiatives with strategies and use cases which will benefit technology end users and suppliers alike. Discover what your peers and industry leaders are doing today and what steps they are taking to prepare for the future.
For more information, please contact Ann-Kathrin Blech (mailto:[email protected]).