Accenture is acquiring ESP to support life sciences clients digitise their manufacturing operations

 Accenture has revealed its plans to acquire Enterprise System Partners (ESP), a consulting and manufacturing services provider for the life sciences industry.

Through the acquisition, ESP will join Accenture Industry X.0, which helps clients master the digital reinvention of industry, strengthening Accenture’s capabilities to transform manufacturing for pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device clients globally.
 
ESP has long-standing industry experience in planning and implementing manufacturing solutions, with niche expertise in manufacturing execution systems (MES) and serialisation. MES digitally track and document the production process, providing the groundwork for more automated and analytics-driven manufacturing and supply chains. Serialisation allows life science companies to digitally track each saleable unit from the packaging line all the way to the patient.

Ben Salama, a managing director who leads Accenture Industry X.0 in the United Kingdom & Ireland, said, “Digital technologies are fundamentally transforming the factory floor. With ESP’s manufacturing solutions and our Industry X.0 capabilities, we can help clients take advantage of engineering and product lifecycle management, advanced analytics, and artificial intelligence for a flexible, efficient, and cost-effective production process.”

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ESP will be the latest of several acquisitions Accenture has made recently to expand Accenture Industry X.0 in Europe and North America, including Pillar Technology, hardware engineering firm Mindtribe, and strategic design consultancy designaffairs. The acquisition will also complement others in life sciences that Accenture has made in recent year, such as LabAnswer (now the Accenture Scientific Informatics Services (ASIS)).
 
Anne Marie O’Halloran, a managing director and lead of Accenture’s Life Sciences Industry X.0 group, stated, “There is significant opportunity for us to help clients drive greater efficiencies in how they manufacture essential medicines for patients around the world with the combination of ESP’s and our life sciences expertise.”
 
ESP will bring a team of 200 professionals with deep manufacturing, process and IT knowledge, who will work closely with Accenture’s Life Sciences group. It currently services 17 of the top 20 global pharmaceutical and biotech companies from offices in Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Turkey and the United States.

“As part of Accenture Industry X.0, we will be able to offer enhanced services to transform our clients’ operations by streamlining processes from early-stage research through development to manufacturing and distribution. It will expand our capabilities to new regions and provide our team with new career opportunities in a truly global organisation,” added Liam O’Brien, managing director of ESP.