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Promation is an automation and robotics company with specialized expertise in life sciences, including radiopharmaceuticals and medical isotopes. The company develops and integrates advanced automation solutions that help manufacturers address complex production challenges through engineering, robotics, system integration, and digital technologies. Serving highly regulated industries, Promation works closely with customers to deliver tailored solutions that improve productivity, enhance quality, strengthen worker safety, and support scalable operations. Its growing focus on radiopharmaceutical manufacturing reflects the industry's need for automation-enabled approaches that can support commercialization, traceability, and operational efficiency.
- Supporting radiopharmaceutical manufacturing as new therapies move toward commercialization
- Scaling production while maintaining safety, quality, and traceability
- Connecting production, quality, inventory, and logistics across the manufacturing lifecycle
- CompactLogix® safety control
- Kinetix® motion control and servo systems (Unified Robot Control)
- FactoryTalk® Optix™ HMIs
- FactoryTalk® PharmaSuite® MES
- Emulate3D® digital twin software
- Integrated safety, I/O, sensing, and industrial computing solutions
- Models a connected digital approach to radiopharmaceutical manufacturing
- Unifies production, quality, inventory, and logistics workflows
- Enhances traceability and operational visibility
- Speeds development and validation through digital twins
- Simplifies integration of automation and robotics
Promation partnered with Rockwell to develop a connected radiopharmaceutical manufacturing platform that brings together automation, robotics, manufacturing execution, and digital twin technologies. Designed as a technology demonstration platform, the solution showcases how digital technologies can connect production processes with enterprise systems while supporting the industry's evolving operational and regulatory requirements.
Radiopharmaceutical manufacturing is entering a period of rapid growth. Though only a few therapies are commercially approved today, hundreds more are advancing through clinical trials and moving toward commercialization. As manufacturers prepare for increased demand, they must increase production capacity while meeting stringent requirements for safety, quality, traceability, and speed.
Unlike conventional pharmaceuticals, radiopharmaceuticals cannot be effectively stockpiled because their therapeutic activity continuously decreases through radioactive decay, creating a perpetual race against time from production to patient administration, making efficient production and distribution essential. Manufacturers must rapidly produce, package, document, and deliver therapies while minimizing worker exposure to radioactive materials.
“Many radiopharmaceutical therapies are coming to maturity and will be commercialized in the next several years. Once they're in a commercial approval stage, the only way you can manufacture them is using automation.”
Alex Sakuta - Director, Isotopes and Radiopharma, Promation
To drive innovation in radiopharmaceutical manufacturing, Promation partnered with Rockwell to develop a technology demonstration platform that integrates automation, robotics, manufacturing execution, and enterprise connectivity. The platform showcases a connected digital workflow that links production equipment with manufacturing execution, inventory, ordering, and logistics systems.
Many of the systems currently used to support pharmaceutical production operate independently. “The real trick is to tie them together with a platform that will let them connect to the ERP system,” said Mike Robertson, Assistant General Manager, Promation. “All the infrastructure they have for the pharma production, that's still being done external to the equipment. Our solution shows that it is all tied in together.”
The platform demonstrates how connected technologies can bridge the gap between production and enterprise systems, creating a seamless flow of information across the manufacturing lifecycle.
Accelerating development with digital twins
Rockwell played a vital role in the platform's development, integrating CompactLogix® safety control, FactoryTalk® Optix™ visualization, PharmaSuite® MES, Emulate3D® digital twin software, and Unified Robot Control technology.
Using Emulate3D®, the Promation team was able to develop, test, and validate system functionality before physical equipment was built. Virtual commissioning helped verify equipment behavior, workflows, and integrations early in the development process, reducing risk and accelerating development. As Robertson explained, “We can do that all in the digital twin. And that reduces your development time so that once the equipment is built, basically you're off to the races, you're just testing the hardware.”
The platform also demonstrates how Unified Robot Control technology can integrate robotic control directly into the automation system, eliminating the need for a separate robot controller and simplifying coordination between automation and robotic operations.
The demonstration platform is helping manufacturers envision a connected approach to managing information and operations across the manufacturing lifecycle. Close collaboration between Promation and Rockwell was instrumental in bringing the platform to life. “The collaboration has been great. They've really stepped up and provided a lot of support, especially in the new technologies,” said Robertson.
Published October 28, 2026