Technologies to ensure biosafety in manufacturing plants

Reaching a new level of stability in industrial production during the second half of 2020 and probably even more in the future, will require the joint effort of the whole of society. According to Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), "we need to reach a sustainable situation in which we have adequate control of this virus without closing our lives completely, or without having to resort to to one lockdown after another. There will be no return to the old normal for the foreseeable future. "

In this regard, the magazine's editorial team had a conversation with Dr. Rodrigo Méndez, a renowned surgeon and electronic engineer in the city of Bogotá, Colombia. In the framework of the presentation of his technological and epidemiological system for the control of the pandemic, Dr. Méndez identified key aspects to be taken into account by the industry to return to face-to-face working life in an intelligent way.

“The health and socioeconomic situation that our country and the world is going through, has united us to a multidisciplinary group with a great accumulation of experience in the engineering, medicine and business world areas; with the purpose of offering society a comprehensive preventive technological and epidemiological system in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic”, said Méndez. "This solution, which involves advanced sensorics, artificial intelligence (AI) and real-time data analysis, allows the confinement or quarantine and subsequent deconfinition to be properly managed," he added.

You may also be interested in: The intelligent management of human capital in manufacturing is key to mexico's international competitiveness

Approaching the problem intelligently

Dr. Méndez highlighted the importance of quickly identifying people with infection from the companies, in order to alert their family members and their closest contacts, thus allowing early social isolation. "It is crucial to refer the infected person to the health center or clinic in a timely manner, which can become complicated, thus preventing them from reaching intensive care, complications or sequelae, with high costs in lives and economic consequences," he added.

Within the epidemiological and health study carried out within the companies, it is essential to identify the population at high risk by age and comorbidity, which is in turn the population with the highest morbidity and mortality. The statistics provided by health entities confirm that the majority are adults and older adults, people who have diseases that compromise their immune, cardiovascular, respiratory systems and who have kidney or metabolic diseases (diabetes, hypothyroidism and obesity), among others .

The technological system presented, called Abba by the Colombian development team among which are the companies Colmetryca and PM Tec Engineering, selects the high-risk population that is not immune to be prioritized in the application of the vaccine, when it comes out to the market.

The technological system Abba, selects the high-risk population that is not immune to be prioritized in the application of the vaccine, when it comes out to the market.

“By selecting the population at risk that has made immunity and the non-immune, all within the privacy parameters of their clinical history, we are collaborating with the public and health authorities to adopt policies and decisions that lead to an adequate management of the pandemic". stated Dr. Ricardo Méndez.

Analysis of clinical information in real time

For Dr. Méndez, it is key that information is acquired automatically and can be processed and analyzed in real time for early decision making. “It should be noted that the taking of temperature, oxygen saturation, heart rate, facial identification and capacity of rooms is automatic, as is the function of hand disinfection and scanning of identification cards, which guarantees maximum biosecurity when not having direct contact with the user ”, he declared.

The system uses its "medical brain" to generate recommendations and alerts for both public and private entities. A system like this allows to know through georeferencing, the traceability of infected people, their contacts and quarantine controls.

For the doctor and engineer, a system like the one he presented can be used at all levels, from the public and private sectors, national and regional levels, ministries and health secretariats. It is applicable to different areas of the economy, massive transport systems, health centers, business, commercial and industrial centers, educational, cultural and leisure centers, sports venues, restaurants and clubs among many others.

Efficient distancing

Other companies have focused on developing solutions to face different challenges imposed by the pandemic in manufacturing plants. For example, to make the distance within plants more efficient, different companies have launched solutions that use technologies such as RFID, Bluetooth and IoT.

For its part, Triax Technologies launched a new solution that provides distancing alerts and contact tracing through a portable device for workers. Similarly, Samsung, in partnership with Radiant RFID, has implemented in its smart watches a technology that emits a vibration and warning with a color code so that users know when they are within a distance of less than 1.8 meters from another person in real time.

Triax Technologies launched a new solution that provides distancing alerts and contact tracing through a portable device for workers.

Undoubtedly, engineers and researchers at the service of the industry have put themselves "to work" to channel the human imagination and create efficient solutions with agility. “I am quite proud of the industry itself for the volume of innovation that we are seeing. We are leveraging technology to reuse or reorganize production lines quickly, I mean really fast, ”said Jürgen von Hollen, President of Universal Robots, at a virtual event recently organized by the Association for Advancing Automation (A3).

Biosafety protocols in all production plants regardless of their sector is a concept that just six months ago were alien to the reality of the manufacturing industry. The arrival of covid-19 generated a new way of working and producing, where technologies to guarantee safe conditions are key for the economy and industry to keep going.

You may also be interested in: An air of optimism for the industry in the new normal