PerkinElmer Acquires SimoTech to Strengthen Pharma Automation
The deal brings Irish specialist's manufacturing execution systems and GMP IT expertise into PerkinElmer's expanding pharmaceutical services platform.
PerkinElmer has completed its acquisition of SimoTech, an Irish manufacturing automation and GMP IT specialist, strengthening its position in pharmaceutical manufacturing technology services.
The deal, first announced in August, integrates SimoTech into PerkinElmer's life sciences services platform alongside its OneSource laboratory solutions business and Project Farma's manufacturing and engineering services.
Automation expertise meets pharma services
Founded in 2011 and based in Cork, Ireland, SimoTech provides automation and manufacturing technology services to the biopharmaceutical industry. The company's technical capabilities span distributed control systems (DCS), manufacturing execution systems (MES), programmable logic controllers (PLC), supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), data historians, and GMP IT systems.
SimoTech currently supports half of the world's top 20 pharmaceutical and biotech companies, giving PerkinElmer significant customer reach within the biopharma manufacturing sector. The company focuses on designing, implementing, and managing automation and digital manufacturing systems with emphasis on project delivery, operational performance, manufacturing flexibility, and regulatory compliance.
Building an integrated services platform
PerkinElmer plans to combine SimoTech's manufacturing automation and IT capabilities with Project Farma's expertise in project management, commissioning, qualification and validation (CQV), automation, and quality and regulatory compliance services. The integration aims to enable end-to-end support across the drug development and manufacturing lifecycle, from project planning and facility development through manufacturing operations and optimization.
"By combining SimoTech's expertise in manufacturing automation and digital systems with the capabilities of OneSource and Project Farma, this acquisition creates a significant opportunity to build a differentiated, scaled platform for pharmaceutical services," said Michael Stubblefield, CEO of PerkinElmer.
Anshul Mangal, President of PerkinElmer's Pharma Specialty Services business, noted that the combined capabilities could help pharmaceutical companies reduce time to market while providing support across both physical manufacturing infrastructure and the digital systems that underpin operations.
Why it matters
The acquisition reflects pharmaceutical manufacturers' increasing need to integrate digital technologies into complex production environments. As drugmakers face pressure to accelerate time to market while maintaining regulatory compliance, the convergence of engineering, automation, IT, and compliance services becomes critical. PerkinElmer's move to consolidate these capabilities under one platform addresses a growing demand for integrated service providers who can manage both the physical and digital aspects of modern pharmaceutical manufacturing.
The details were first reported by Manufacturing Chemist.
This is an original analysis by the Omega editorial team. Source reporting: Automation Watch.
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