Cathal Strain

Cathal founded Neo PLM following a career at Pfizer that spanned nearly 32 years. During that time, he gained considerable hands-on experience in manufacturing, both in high-volume continuous manufacturing and complex multi-product batch environments. He led the design, commissioning and startup of several new and highly automated multi-product plants as well as the retrofitting of many older facilities. With a deep understanding of the challenges of manufacturing, Cathal increasingly focused on technology as his career progressed and became a leader in the application of advanced and innovative technologies at Pfizer’s API manufacturing plants. He pioneered the implementation of one of the pharmaceutical industry’s first fully electronic batch record systems, and following that he led the envisioning, development and deployment of the world’s first integrated PLM solution for process manufacturing. This technology received the Microsoft Innovation Award for Manufacturing.

Cathal strongly believes that PLM for process manufacturers, centered around digital design, will usher in a new era—driving benefits similar to those experienced by discrete manufacturers using CAD-based PLM.