Fedegari Autoclavi selects Wind River for sophisticated industrial sterilizers

TURIN, ITALY: Wind River announced that Fedegari Autoclavi SpA has standardized the control system for its industrial machine line, called Thema4, on Wind River’s VxWorks real-time operating system (RTOS).

This meets the diverse needs of the pharmaceutical industry, including compliance with global certification requirements set out by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Union good manufacturing practices guide.

Thema4 is the latest release of Fedegari Autoclavi’s control application and runs the touch panels controlling a wide variety of sterilizing machines. The control system is responsible for ensuring drugs and medical devices in general are sterilized reliably and cost-effectively. Fedegari Autoclavi’s customers include the top pharmaceutical manufacturers around the world that rely on Fedegari Autoclavi’s equipment to guarantee the highest quality for their drugs.

The sterilizer requires tight, real-time monitoring and adjustment of parameters such as temperature, pressure and humidity as well as the flow of air and water. The control system for these devices requires a stable architecture to ensure consistent and reliable performance.

To meet this challenge, Fedegari Autoclavi chose Wind River’s VxWorks RTOS as the foundation for a sophisticated and versatile process controller, which offers a standard solution for Fedegari Autoclavi’s global customers. For hardware, these customers can choose among three different platforms, each based on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components from major hardware manufacturers, all supported by VxWorks.

“There are no other sterilization equipment manufacturers that can offer COTS hardware and controllers that are infinitely versatile but not custom-programmed for each machine,” said Giuseppe Fedegari, chief executive of Fedegari Autoclavi. “Our customers demand flexible, reliable and robust solutions that drive returns on their investment. Choosing the industry-leading software platform as the foundation of our sterilizers was crucial to maintain our leadership and ensure that our customers keep relying on Fedegari for their most critical productions.”

“Medical devices are becoming more sophisticated and manufacturers are looking for new ways to enable connectivity and rich features while maintaining a clear path to certification,” said Santhosh Nair, director of medical solutions at Wind River. “VxWorks remains the solution of choice for medical device manufacturers determined to establish and maintain a competitive edge.”