Milwaukee – September 29, 2026 -- PBS Biotech has embedded Rockwell Automation technology into its MiniPRO multi-parallel bioreactor platform, a system with up to 24 independently controlled bioreactors designed to speed cell therapy process development and reduce risk during scale-up to commercial manufacturing.
Platform integrates FactoryTalk software with PlantPAx distributed control
The MiniPRO uses Rockwell's FactoryTalk software and Process Library to deliver real-time process control within an automation environment that can integrate directly into a larger PlantPAx distributed control system used to run an entire cell-therapy facility. Rockwell Automation, headquartered in Milwaukee and employing roughly 26,000 people across more than 100 countries as of fiscal year 2025, positions the collaboration as a way to standardize automation across development and GMP manufacturing stages.
Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute adopted the system early
The Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI), a nonprofit focused on the U.S. bioeconomy, was an early adopter of the PBS platform. Tom Bollenbach, chief technology officer at ARMI, said the Rockwell controls embedded in the MiniPRO simplified handoffs between subsystems on the institute's first integrated manufacturing line, allowing supervisory systems to communicate more easily and enabling larger manufacturing lines to be built.
PBS Biotech links small-scale data to larger Vertical-Wheel bioreactors
PBS Biotech has demonstrated that process performance on the MiniPRO is consistent with its larger-scale Vertical-Wheel bioreactors, allowing developers to generate manufacturing-relevant data earlier in a program's lifecycle. That consistency, paired with compatibility with widely deployed automation environments, is intended to make transfers into Good Manufacturing Practice settings more predictable.
Sharon Harvey, director of product management and strategy at PBS Biotech, said the Rockwell technologies provide industrial-grade control of critical process parameters so that data generated during early development resembles output from commercial manufacturing environments.
Rockwell frames the platform as risk reduction for tech transfer
Matt Weaver, vice president of global industry for life sciences at Rockwell Automation, said introducing a widely used automation platform during process development helps teams preserve process knowledge and control as programs advance toward clinical and commercial manufacturing, reducing risk during tech transfer between development and manufacturing stages.