How Predictive Control Is Reshaping Continuous Bioprocessing

In Part 1 of a 2-part interview at INTERPHEX 2026, David Chau of Thermo Fisher and Dr. Stuart Tindal of Sartorius, both members of the Bioprocess Systems Alliance (BPSA), discuss the intersection of automation, single-use technologies, and continuous bioprocessing, as well as the challenges manufacturers face as the industry evolves.

Chau and Tindal agree that automation has moved from a nice-to-have to an essential requirement in modern bioprocessing. As operations become increasingly data-driven and interconnected, robust automation is indispensable for maintaining process control and consistency. Chau emphasizes that successful implementation begins with deep process understanding—knowing the inputs, outputs, and parameters that need to be controlled—before attempting to automate, whether building a continuous process from scratch or retrofitting an existing one.

A central tension the speakers address is the durability of single-use technologies in continuous manufacturing contexts. While single-use systems offer speed and flexibility that are well-suited to R&D and pilot-scale work, those same characteristics become liabilities when processes must run for weeks or months at commercial scale. The industry, vendors, and end users alike must confront the material and mechanical limitations of these technologies and innovate accordingly.

On process control, both Tindal and Chau advocate moving beyond conventional PID controllers toward predictive and model-based control strategies. For complex or labile molecules with tight critical quality attributes, advanced control loops that are fast, adaptive, and predictive are essential. Tindal frames says rather than simply reacting to set points, manufacturers need to actively steer processes along a continuous trajectory, keeping within an ever-narrowing window of acceptable parameters from start to finish.