AstraZeneca on future factories

The factory floor is changing – faster than ever. Automation, data, and digital tools are reshaping how things are made and who makes decisions. But what does that really look like in practice? We sat down with key players from the SCC UK Patronship to explore the human side of industrial transformation, from the shop floor to the boardroom, with two key questions.

First up, we asked Mark Proctor, VP and General Manager UK Operations (Macclesfield).

1. In your UK operations, how have automation and data most visibly changed work on the floor – and what hasn’t really changed at all?

In the UK, automation and data have materially elevated execution on the factory floor. Over the last five to ten years, we’ve deployed smart robotics in key areas, including end of line packing, Quality Control (QC) sample prep, co-bots and robots in sterile manufacturing, and Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGVs). Data drives everything – optimising processes and enabling real time decisions via our visual factory and Solvace-powered Power BI dashboards, accelerating data democratisation, and facilitating higher quality decisions. AI adoption is building on this foundation. What hasn’t changed is the primacy of human expertise in operating equipment and solving problems – our operators are at the centre of what we do.

We embed change with operators and engineers from day one – co-design, iterate with feedback, invest time, fully engage pilot lines, and empower them as advocates.

2. When you roll out new technologies, how do you involve operators and engineers so that they feel ownership of the change rather than having it imposed on them?

We build ownership by engaging operators and engineers in cross-functional teams from day one – co-designing workflows, capturing frontline feedback, and iterating through multiple change cycles. We invest the time for hands-on trials, shadowing, and readiness training, aligning roles, standard operating procedures, and KPIs so the technology fits the work, not the other way round. In our Global Packing Centre, we implemented Digital Changeover with two pilot lines fully engaged from the outset. Those teams shaped the solution, validated usability, and became advocates who coached peers, shared outcomes, and sustained adoption. This approach embeds change into daily routines and creates trusted champions who drive continuous improvement; digital innovation is rarely right first time – it takes iteration and learning to be successful.