Biopharmaceutical Manufacturer Leverages Acronis to Enhance its Production Line Security Protection

Project Introduction

Novo Nordisk, a prominent biopharmaceutical enterprise renowned for its specialization in insulin production for diabetes treatment, maintains a significant manufacturing factory in Tianjin, China. This factory operates under the considerable pressure of global high production demands, necessitating the continuous and demanding use of pharmaceutical equipment along the production line. In the context of equipment malfunction, maintenance personnel conventionally employ SSD to perform on-site repairs. However, this practice exposes them to external security threats, including potential viruses that can result in data loss and system impairment. Consequently, the principal concern revolves around the management of information security risks within the production line.   

Through extensive deliberations, Advantech has discerned another critical challenge - the absence of a robust backup and restoration mechanism. Novo Nordisk found that communicating with customers in Europe, the United States, and Japan without a reliable backup and restore system posed a potential threat of losing order records. When each device experiences a system failure, the current approach involves system reinstallation, resulting in data loss and high downtime costs. How to effectively restore the system and minimize the downtime emerge are the challenge of this project.

Our Solution

All equipment in the factory is standardized with the Windows 10 IoT Enterprise 2019 OS, and the server component uses Windows Server 2019 IoT. Advantech provided a dependable operating system foundation along with accompanying software services.

• Windows 10 IoT Enterprise 2019 
• Windows Server IoT 2019
• Acronis Snap Deploy
• Acronis true image 2021
• Acronis cyber backup 12.5

Project Implementation

Within the production line, there was a significant demand for deploying numerous image files to various devices. To meet this requirement, Advantech introduced the Acronis Snap Deploy solution. Acronis Snap Deploy is versatile deployment software designed to streamline the deployment of operating systems, configurations, and data across multiple devices and servers, significantly enhancing deployment efficiency for customers. Acronis True Image enables rapid data restoration on individual devices with a single click, quickly returning the system to its standard operational state. It also offers the convenience of scheduled backup plans, allowing clients to recover to the most recent backup point.   

In terms of data security, the backed-up files are securely stored on robust solid-state drives (SSD) to protect them from potential virus threats. For server-based solutions, Acronis Cyber Backup boasts impressive deduplication rates and exceptional data compression capabilities, significantly reducing the storage space required for user backup data. Additionally, Advantech provides a sophisticated remote system management platform called DeviceOn, streamlining comprehensive backup and restoration procedures for equipment located within the factory's intranet.

System Diagram

Conclusion

Advantech's meticulous approach not only ensured efficient data protection and management but also created a more resilient and secure environment throughout the entire production line. Advantech played a pivotal role in helping Novo Nordisk to reduce downtime, minimize the risk of data loss, and enhance overall operational efficiency. This approach underscores the commitment to maintaining the highest levels of reliability and security in data management.

Why Advantech?

• Advantech offers comprehensive pre-sales and post-sales support, assisting customers with product selection, solution development, and product setup and utilization. 
• Advantech possesses extensive expertise in both software and hardware solutions and is capable of troubleshooting equipment issues effectively. 
• Advantech serves as a worldwide collaborator in the Acronis OEM market.