We've spent quite a lot of time talking about AI during our research for ManuPharma.

But the more conversations we have, the more we're wondering whether there's another problem the industry needs to solve first: integration.

A modern pharmaceutical manufacturing environment can involve ERP, LIMS, QMS, manufacturing systems, cloud applications and plenty of legacy technology.

Getting useful information to move between all of those systems isn't straightforward. And because this is pharma, connecting them isn't enough. Everything still has to operate within a controlled, validated environment.

One of the leaders we spoke to is working on a large transformation programme involving Quality processes across ERP and manufacturing. Batch release alone involves integration between ERP, LIMS and QMS.

Another conversation gave us a much simpler illustration of the same problem. In sponsor-CMO collaboration, they described batch records sitting in SharePoint, deviations being managed in the CMO's system and planning happening through email.

None of those tools is necessarily the problem on its own. The problem is the gaps between them.

It matters even more when AI enters the conversation. If the information AI needs is scattered across different systems, formats and owners, getting to the exciting use cases becomes considerably harder.

Maybe some manufacturers don't need another AI platform yet. Maybe they need a better-connected factory.

Systems integration might not generate the same headlines as AI, but it could be one of the most important pieces of the digital manufacturing puzzle.

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