Q&A: How Continuous Bioprocessing Is Evolving With Smarter Automation

At INTERPHEX 2026, PharmTech connected with Stuart Tindal, portfolio manager, Intensified Downstream Systems, Sartorius; and David Chau, global technical product specialist, Thermo Fisher—both Bio-Process Systems Alliance committee leaders—discuss automation, single-use technology challenges, and smarter process control in bioprocessing.

Watch the 2-part video interview with Tindal and Chau:
Part 1: How Predictive Control Is Reshaping Continuous Bioprocessing

Part 2: Stuart Tindal and David Chau on Sensors, Standards, and Shared Progress

PT: How Should Companies Think About Integrating Automation into Continuous Bioprocessing?

Tindal: Automation isn't optional anymore, it's an integral part of any continuous or advanced bioprocessing operation. The industry has moved decisively away from purely manual operations. As processes have become more data-driven and connectivity has increased, the need for robust control and automation has become paramount. It's no longer a nice-to-have; it's a must-have for maintaining consistency and productivity.

Chau: The foundation must be process understanding. Before you can automate anything, you need to know what you're trying to make continuous. You must consider what the inputs and outputs are, what parameters matter, how you'll measure them through sensors or equipment. People entering continuous bioprocessing right now can feel overwhelmed, whether they're building a process from scratch or retrofitting an existing one. Going back to the fundamentals of your process is often the most valuable first step.

How Do Single-Use Technologies Fit in with the Demands of Continuous Manufacturing?

Chau: It's a real tension. Single-use technology has earned its place in the industry with faster turnaround times, flexibility, speed at the R&D and pilot scale. But those same benefits can become concerns when you're talking about commercial-scale continuous manufacturing, where processes run for weeks or even months. Single-use was designed to be limited. As an industry, vendors and end users must come together to honestly assess the limitations and innovate around them.

Tindal: It comes down to the materials of construction. When something is designed for a single day of use and you're asking it to perform for weeks, critical failure points emerge. Are the sensors drifting over time? Are the actuators, the pumps and valves moving plastic components, going to withstand prolonged friction and wear? The work being done now is about understanding how far these materials can be pushed and what alternatives or design changes can support longer continuous runs.

What Does the Future of Process Control Look Like in Continuous Bioprocessing?

Tindal: We're moving beyond conventional PID controllers toward predictive and model-based control. In a continuous process, your operating window becomes more of a tunnel, you need to steer the process along that tunnel in real time, being adaptive and anticipatory. That requires a very fast control and response loop. For more complex or labile molecules with tighter critical quality attributes, advanced predictive control isn't a luxury, it's what enables you to maintain the process trajectory from start to finish.

Chau: Continuous manufacturing generates enormous amounts of data, and the question becomes what we do with it. Model-based approaches make a lot of sense in this context; with enough data, you can build predictive models that guide processes rather than simply hold set points. The shift is from reactive control to genuinely steering and predicting where your process is headed. That's where the industry is going, and it's an exciting direction.