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The global healthcare and life sciences sectors are experiencing significant transformation driven by aging populations, increasing healthcare demands, lack of staff and advances in medicine, science and technology. These trends build pressure for unprecedented investment in both physical infrastructure and operational capabilities. In order to meet growing patient needs, healthcare providers must modernize and expand their facilities, while life sciences organizations are racing to accelerate R&D and production through the application of advanced automation and robotics.
With the healthcare sector contributing 4.4 percent of global net CO2 emissions, net-zero hospital initiatives are gaining significant traction, particularly in Europe and North America. Energy efficiency and sustainability have become key in this context, with facilities increasingly adopting high-efficiency heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, energy recovery ventilation (ERV), and smart lighting systems with occupancy sensing as standard features in new construction. Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems are also critical for hospitals to ensure the continuous functioning of life-saving equipment, maintain patient safety, and prevent disruptions in sensitive environments like operating rooms and intensive care units. Here, brief outages can have severe consequences.
Smart building integration and internet of things (IoT) technology are transforming healthcare facilities through widespread adoption of building systems with real-time monitoring capabilities.
ABB delivers comprehensive solutions for modern healthcare facilities, integrating critical power distribution and uninterruptible power supply (UPS) – ensuring critical hospital equipment never loses power during an outage. Our intelligent energy management systems- advanced variable speed drives - substantially reduce energy consumption in energy intensive HVACR systems. This enables healthcare facilities to optimize operational costs while maintaining exceptional performance standards. When combined with an ABB IE5 motor, they exceed the highest efficiency class possible.
With the ABB Ability™ Asset Manager for transformers, the Helsinki University Hospital is now able to access key operational performance data and real-time trends for the transformers via the cloud, which reduces the requirement for time-consuming physical inspections, and costly shutdowns. The Meilahti Hospital Area in Helsinki, which is operated by HUS, upgraded its electrical system to maximize uptime, eliminate the use of SF6, a potent greenhouse gas in the medium-voltage (MV) switchgear, extend the life of electrical equipment and optimize hospital operations.
ABB UPS devices drive the operation of vital equipment in the Narva and Läänemaa Hospitals in Estonia, especially in the event of possible power outages. For example, medical equipment such as what is needed in the surgery room now operates without interruption thanks to the UPS technology.
Scientists at Europe’s largest biomedical research facility, the Sir Francis Crick Institute, protect sensitive laboratory equipment with ABB technology. Its solution included eight ABB PCS100 AVC-40 Active Voltage Conditioners (AVC) rated at 225 kVA along with low voltage bypass switchboards, which regulate the incoming electricity supply to keep voltage within a very tight quality window.
The modern 12 story Calvary Adelaide Hospital, in South Australia, uses ABB building automation solutions to deliver critical support to staff and patients. The building has been equipped with the latest ABB i-bus KNX® smart building technology, which reduces staff workload by automating core building functions such as lighting, shutter control, heating, ventilation, security, and energy management.
ABB partnered with ThermAir , an engineering company in Arizona, to provide advanced HVACR solutions, ensuring the highest levels of safety and efficiency in this critical environment. The project utilized a variety of ACH580 ABB drives, each tailored to specific HVACR components.
ABB has supplied ultra-premium efficient IE5 SynRM (synchronous reluctance) motor and drive packages to modernize pumping applications and boost energy efficiency at GSK’s vaccine plant in Hungary. Significant energy savings mean the investment will pay for itself in around two years.
ABB’s Azipod® propulsion enables Global Mercy - the world’s largest civilian hospital ship enter less accessible harbors off the African coast to support people in areas that would otherwise be too challenging to access.
The laboratory sector is experiencing increased pressure to improve efficiency while maintaining precision, which in turn is driving significant technological adoption. Automated data analysis and reporting systems are becoming standard practice, largely driven by persistent labor shortages and the growing need for increased testing throughput.
While adoption of automation brings clear benefits, laboratories face distinct implementation challenges. Integration with existing systems requires careful planning to maintain operational continuity, while navigating the complex regulatory landscape for medical devices and laboratory equipment can slow adoption of new automated systems. Technical expertise gaps are becoming more pronounced as the workforce ages, with developed markets struggling as specialized technical staff retiring. Training and retaining qualified staff is a universal challenge but particularly acute in rapidly growing healthcare markets according to Columbia Southern University and Health Management.
Our automation solutions transform medical and diagnostic laboratories through seamlessly integrated technologies including industrial robots, collaborative robots (cobots), and autonomous mobile robots (AMR). These systems support everything from routine testing to complex laboratory workflows in clinical diagnostics and hospital laboratories and can also solve the labor and skills gap many labs are experiencing. Our specialized control systems meet exacting environmental requirements that are crucial for accuracy of testing, while optimizing energy consumption. In pharmaceutical research and manufacturing facilities, ABB's integrated power, robotics and process solutions support the entire development and production lifecycle.
The ABB YuMi™ cobot is part of the world’s first solution to automate the transfer of fruit flies without anesthetization to advance neurological research at the Texas Children’s hospital. The robot performs the same movements as human researchers to tap and transfer the flies between vials, allowing scientists to focus on mission-critical tasks such as the discovery of new pathways and testing the efficacy of new drugs in treating neurological disorders such as Alzheimers and Huntington disease. This removes the need to anesthetize the flies before transfer, improving the accuracy of results and speeding up the transfer process. The solution helped researchers save 20 percent of time in a workday, which they now can use for data analysis and other important work.
ABB IRB 1300 robots were used to automate the MVZ Medizinische Labore Dessau Kassel GmbH laboratory- especially their pre- and postanalytical laboratory, to improve and standardize the total workflow. They work alongside lab staff to boost productivity and improve safety.
A robot pharmacy automation system - Robot Mini Load (RML) synchronized with a 3D bin picking system has been installed at the Seventh People’s hospital in Shanghai. By automating a busy pharmacy department, the hospital has been able to develop a cost-effective method to deliver life-saving drugs, increase drug safety and create a more rewarding environment for its human workers.
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