Cognizant joins forces with Zenith to digitise pharma manufacturing

Professional services firm Cognizant has struck a deal to buy Zenith Technologies, a privately-held life sciences manufacturing technology company specialising in digital technologies to manage, control and optimise drug and medical device production.

Cognizant, which said it already works with the top 30 largest life science companies in the world, did not reveal the financial details of the deal to buy Zenith, based in Cork, Ireland.

Under the new arrangements Zenith Technologies' more than 800 employees will become part of Cognizant's Life Sciences business unit.

Cognizant said that interconnected "smart factories" have become a strategic priority for pharma, with production systems and processes becoming more complex because of research advances and increased demand for large-molecule biologics.

The combined Cognizant-Zenith Technologies expertise will deliver a range of “Industry 4.0” capabilities, the companies said.

These include factory design consultation, machine sensor and controller instrumentation, supervisory control, and data acquisition, to manufacturing execution systems, batch automation, enterprise resource planning integration and managed services.

The acquisition also makes sense as Zenith’s operating hubs in Ireland, Germany, India, Singapore, the United States and other sites around the world are located near manufacturing facilities of many Cognizant clients.

Zenith’s CEO Joe Haugh said: “Our combined business will drive process excellence through tighter integration of manufacturing processes and systems, the efficient harnessing of information and analytics across the manufacturing value chain, and the adoption of IoT technologies delivering manufacturing 4.0.”

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2019, subject to satisfaction of closing conditions, including regulatory review.

Founded in 1998, Zenith Technologies operates on five continents, with 16 locations around the globe. Zenith Technologies works with nine of the world's 10 largest biopharmaceutical manufacturers, implementing and supporting their manufacturing lifecycle software through its consultancy, manufacturing digital and automation systems integration, and manufacturing site services business lines.

Drug manufacturing photograph courtesy of Merck KGaA