5 Ways Technology is Rewriting the Workforce Playbook in Life Sciences

What you will learn from this article:

• The impact of digital transformation on workforce adaptation in life sciences manufacturing.
• The role of AI and automation in addressing skilled labor shortages.
• Specific examples of how companies are implementing technology to improve efficiency and maintain quality.

With skilled talent getting harder to find in life sciences manufacturing, a quiet but powerful shift is underway on the production floor. Companies are adjusting not just to a shortage, but to a workforce transformation already in motion.

Nearly a quarter of the industry’s workforce is over 55 years old¹, and a ManpowerGroup survey found 77% of healthcare and life sciences companies have difficulty finding the talent they need.² With a projected 35% talent deficit by 2030, companies can no longer afford to wait for a solution.³

Instead of waiting for the hiring landscape to improve, many manufacturers are turning to digital tools to help keep operations moving. The technologies that once felt like future investments are now solving immediate, everyday problems. They’re helping smaller, newer teams get up to speed faster and giving experienced staff the support they need to focus on what matters most.

Here are five ways technology is changing the way work gets done in life sciences manufacturing.

Moving From Paper to Precision

Paper and spreadsheet-based manual workflows have been the standard for decades, but their limitations are becoming harder to ignore. As skilled production staff are getting closer to retirement, manufacturers are struggling to make sure that their institutional knowledge doesn’t leave with them. This brain drain can cause training gaps for critical processes and procedures that often can lead to issues with quality, compliance and efficiency. Some companies are accelerating digitalization with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). For instance, one manufacturer, faced with 4,000 handwritten logbooks, used AI to convert them to digital records.

“Converting the books manually would take a massive amount of time and create the risk of errors being introduced,” said Chris Peters, TrackWise product director at Honeywell. “AI significantly helped reduce the effort and the time.”

Using Automation and AI

Manual tasks still account for a large portion of day-to-day production, from valve control to procedural checklists. Automating these steps can help reduce errors and free up staff to focus on more complex work.

AI complements automation by assisting teams in creating standard operating procedures, verifying compliance and spotting potential issues early. Peters sees AI as a key resource in bridging the gap between low workforce numbers and achieving optimal performance within companies.

“AI could act as a force multiplier for experts, helping them write procedures and author recipes and therefore enhance organizational productivity despite staffing constraints,” he said.

Guidance systems are another important piece of this puzzle as they can clearly outline each step for operators. By automatically directing them to their next task, these systems can help reduce reliance on veteran employees which in turn allows newer staff to get comfortable performing their roles confidently and accurately – while also reducing potential human error.

Monitoring That Keeps You Ahead

In pharmaceutical manufacturing, equipment downtime can cost you up to $500,000 per hour, according to NetScout. Aside from these costly consequences, equipment failures can not only disrupt production but also increase compliance risks. Traditionally, maintenance teams rely on scheduled checks or past experience to prevent issues. That approach isn’t always enough.

Modern monitoring tools now give maintenance teams deeper visibility into equipment performance. With tools like Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OOE), digital twins, asset reliability sensors and AI-driven alerts, teams can identify patterns and fix small issues before they escalate.

This kind of foresight based on real-time data helps organizations extend the lifespan of equipment and allow operations to run with smaller maintenance crews.

Bringing Building Systems Together

While much attention goes to what happens on the line, the systems running the facility are just as important. Many facility teams still manage separate tools for HVAC, safety and access control, systems that often operate in silos and require interfaces and training. Such fragmentation makes it harder to respond quickly when something goes wrong, especially with staff turnover and new hires.

“I have seen many customers struggle because they’re trying to manage four or five different building systems,” said Karson Chan, solutions advisor at Honeywell. “Workers come and go, and it’s a challenge to keep them up to date on all the systems. Using a single system that integrates building domains helps reduce training. It can be a significant timesaver.”

By consolidating building systems onto a unified platform, teams gain greater situational awareness. They can manage fire safety, environmental controls and security from one screen, respond faster, and train more effectively.

Strengthening Security with the Right Partners

As more equipment connects to networks, operational technology (OT) cybersecurity becomes more critical. Unlike IT systems, operational technology includes everything from machinery controls to building automation, systems that must remain reliable and safe. Finding talent that understands both the technical side and the manufacturing side isn’t easy.

“In life sciences manufacturing, you need people who know OT cybersecurity and the process itself,” said Saltanat Mashirova, product management lead at Honeywell. “Those skills are not readily available in the market.”

Rather than trying to build that capability in-house, many companies are working with outside partners that design solutions with cybersecurity in mind from the ground up. When cybersecurity is built into each product, it’s easier to manage and teams spend less time trying to patch vulnerabilities after the fact.

These partnerships offer support from design to ongoing monitoring, helping reduce workload while keeping systems secure.

To explore how these strategies play out on the ground, download the full eBook "Bridging the Workforce Gap:  Leveraging Industry 4.0 in Life Sciences Manufacturing"

Sources

1.       https://www.skillsalliance.com/solving-the-talent-gap-in-life-sciences/

2.       https://go.manpowergroup.com/talent-shortage

3.       Solving the Pharma and Life Sciences talent deficit - AMS