Grantek Delivers AVEVA Building Automation System (BAS) for Expanding Pharmaceutical Manufacturer That Acquired New Facilities
February 5, 2025

Overview
A large pharmaceutical manufacturer, with multiple production facilities across North America, reached out to Grantek looking for help with a Building Automation System (BAS) problem. The pharmaceutical manufacturer had acquired new facilities over the years with various building automation systems, and it became difficult to benchmark and manage each facility. This involved a mix of well-known and proprietary BAS, software-based BAS and custom applications built by various smaller BAS specialist vendors. On top of each facility having a different BAS, the scale was also large with over 15 buildings interfaced, over 50 air handler units, over 150,000 logged values and an aging infrastructure. Grantek was tasked with delivering a BAS upgrade that would unify a single system across all sites, while not stopping production at any facility. To begin the process, Grantek and the client held a road mapping session to fully understand the needs and potential challenges. Through this road mapping session it became clear and dependable data access and a common graphical interface were top priorities for the client in their new BAS.
Challenges
The client needed a reliable and scalable BAS solution that would allow for 24×7 operation at all sites. The client also wanted the ability to make needed changes with regulatory confidence with a secure version control system documenting what happened, by who, when and what the reasons for any change were. This would ensure traceability and instill accountability. The client was also looking for assistance with their validation process. They needed an BAS solution that allowed for testing with traceability in mind. The BAS solution needed to be built in parallel with the old system to allow users to visualize the new BAS solution reacting to the same input. The client also required acceptance from the end users on the production floor at the various facilities. To do this Grantek run through screen-by-screen tests to compare various devices running the systems. Grantek was able to work with the client to uncover some interesting results that were making it hard to find items within the old system. Those issues became prioritized fixes with the new BAS solution.
Solutions
Knowing all of the needs of the client, Grantek looked to AVEVA as a platform for the new unified BAS solution. This solution allowed the client to pull reports on-demand, ensuring management at each facility, along with global managers, could access reporting and data at their fingertips. In the event of an audit or other inquiry from a regulatory body, on-demand reports also made compliance and data gathering much easier. The BAS solution provided statistical modeling via a graphical interface. This helped operators and managers at all facilities identify trends and issues that helped the client improve operations.