Dr. Sebastian Wibbeling, head of health care logistics at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML and Christoph Dechow, head of digital transformation management at Boehringer Ingelheim explore the future of the networked production world.
Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics
With smart objects and their seamless interaction with people, the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML and Boehringer Ingelheim demonstrate how innovation paves the way for intelligent, automated, and predictive process management.
Together, they have developed the “Smart Panel,” which connects transport containers in production supply through real-time data. This controllable, intelligent digital device forms the foundation for future-oriented, resilient, and sustainable process management – with the potential to save up to 75,000 working hours per year in a single large production plant.
With their innovation, Fraunhofer IML and Boehringer Ingelheim address two key challenges in pharmaceutical production and logistics: the lack of end-to-end digitisation and automated decision-making. Despite modern IT systems, containers in the transport and production chain are still labelled with paper tags, adhesive barcodes, or handwritten notes, which have to be transferred during the production cycle and painstakingly tracked through manual steps, including inspections. At the end of the cycle, these labels must then be labouriously removed during cleaning.
This paper-based documentation, manual control steps, and time-delayed data transfers from paper to IT systems hinder efficiency and security in production and logistics. Without real-time data, it is virtually impossible to locate objects in circulation or monitor their status. This results in numerous inspection and approval processes, reduces transparency, and complicates the implementation of new process requirements. Added to this are high data integrity requirements, complex process chains, and the parallel coordination of analog and digital processes, a breeding ground for high process costs and delays.
Smart device optimises process management
Fraunhofer IML and Boehringer Ingelheim have found a way to make production logistics smarter, more sustainable, and more resilient. This end-to-end digital solution supports processes while keeping people at the centre as decision-makers: the “Smart Panel.”
The hardware and software architecture, developed entirely in Germany, sets new standards for digitalisation in container management. The intelligent sensor system provides transparency, ensures data integrity, and automates processes in both physical and digital form. Real-time data enables end-to-end tracking and automated documentation throughout the entire supply chain. This is made possible by the Smart Panel, which links all relevant process information with seamless monitoring of critical parameters. This includes temperature, location, and vibrations, even outside controlled environments.
Digital instead of manual
This intelligent process support enables a fully digital process environment which, complemented by a dashboard, provides relevant information on both the container and the PC at any time, optimising production and logistics processes in the long term. The integrated system also links process data from production and order processing for each individual container and presents the information in a customised way.
This eliminates the need for manual data transfers and printouts, prevents unnecessary container movements, and supports material identification.
In addition to tracking and tracing, the Smart Panel serves as an interactive interface between people, objects, and IT systems: plain text information or 2D codes can be displayed directly on the container via an energy-efficient E Ink display. It also allows staff to interact directly with IT systems. The result is a continuous information and communication network that meets all requirements for data integrity.
The Smart Panel is used at Boehringer Ingelheim as a central device for process management across the entire value chain, wherever containers and other packaging are moved between individual process stations – from cleaning, storage, and transport to production, emptying, and preparation for the next production cycle. Previously, these processes were complex, involving many manual steps and taking considerable time. With the Smart Panel, they are now digitised, automated, and streamlined, allowing the focus to return to value-adding activities.
From test project to technology standard
The Smart Panel was developed through an agile process that included needs assessment, development, testing, and optimisation based on user feedback. The pilot phase has been running since December 2024 at Boehringer Ingelheim’s SOL factory. Since then, the Smart Panel and its software components have been in stable operation. Employees have provided consistently positive feedback: they value its ease of use without any significant familiarisation period, the intuitive menu navigation, the clear visualisation, and the ability to view status changes directly on the container.
The introduction and scaling of the Smart Panel as a technology standard at Boehringer Ingelheim at times became a balancing act between vision and pragmatic implementation.
Existing rules and regulations designed to preserve the status quo made it difficult to introduce the new technology. The case shows how crucial it is to break down organisational barriers and create openness to innovation. From a technological perspective, interactive optimisation of the solution was necessary during the intensive testing phase. Ultimately, it is also important to find a manufacturer who can reliably produce and further develop the Smart Panel. Thanks to this industrial scalability, the solution is ready for global use.
More speed, fewer errors, higher quality
The use of the Smart Panel leads to significant efficiency gains at Boehringer Ingelheim. Extrapolated, up to 75,000 working hours per year can be saved in a large production plant alone, a result of the consistent elimination of non-value-adding activities. By expanding the system to other factories in the global production network, the potential will scale significantly further. In addition to time, cost, and resource savings, the system actively supports employees in their daily work: real-time information facilitates decision-making and puts people back at the center.
Quality also benefits: Real-time data processing between people, objects, and IT systems increases data integrity, reduces errors, and improves process stability. At the same time, continuous end-to-end data transparency enables proactive, intelligent process management that stabilises and sustainably improves workflows.
Key to a sustainable and value-adding process environment
With the Smart Panel, Boehringer Ingelheim and Fraunhofer IML are taking a significant step toward future-oriented, automated, and efficient process management. For both companies, this is not only about greater transparency, safety, and efficiency in drug production but also about digital resilience and CO₂ savings – for example, through optimised decisions and improved container management. At the same time, people remain at the centre as decision-makers, supported by real-time information that facilitates on-site decisions and secures processes.
In the future, the Smart Panel will be system-independent and flexibly integrable. This paves the way for a significant increase in digital maturity along the entire value chain.