Today’s pharmaceutical manufacturers face a myriad of challenges, including access to constant power supply. Power interruptions, fluctuations and outages are an unfortunate and generally unpredictable occurrence that can have a variety of causes. According to Statista, companies around the world lost approximately 5% of their revenue due to power outages.

Drug product manufacturers require a steady and reliable power grid to support their customers’ pharmaceutical supply chain. Uninterrupted power supply (UPS) is important for aseptic manufacturing processes, which generally use sensitive equipment that operate within an extremely narrow voltage range. Any interruption or loss of power can pose a significant risk to the production processes or even the drug itself, potentially resulting in the entire batch being discarded.

As an expert in electrical engineering at Vetter, I understand the complex nature of power supply in an aseptic production environment. In this article, I will share the impact of power outages on drug manufacturing, how service providers can address power fluctuations and the obstacles they face to maintain constant power supply and protect customers’ drug products.

Frequent Power Outages and the Impact on Aseptic Production
The electrical system can be jeopardised for a number of reasons, resulting in fluctuations in voltage and power levels, network failures and micro cuts. Extreme weather and natural disasters, as well as accidents such as nearby construction, can cause power interruptions. Suspension of the power supply and incidents of voltage spikes and undervoltage can also interrupt the power supply for pharmaceutical facilities.