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Location Basel

Automation Engineering Basel

PLC engineering for the pharma and plant engineering cluster in the tri-border area

Basel is Europe's densest pharma cluster – with global API producers, plant engineering and specialty chemicals in a compact footprint. As a Luxembourg-based EU partner, I support Basel customers with cross-border PLC engineering and a clear compliance setup.

PLC programming in Basel, Pratteln, Muttenz and Liestal – TIA Portal, STEP 7 Classic, WinCC Unified. Retrofit of existing controllers, commissioning of reactors and isolators, reverse engineering of legacy plants. Cross-border setup via SEM notification and A1 from Luxembourg.

About the Region

Automation Engineering in Basel

Northwestern Switzerland is Europe's densest pharma and specialty-chemicals cluster. Within just 40 kilometres between Basel city, Pratteln and Schweizerhalle, global API manufacturers, plant engineering firms and suppliers concentrate more than 30,000 staff in engineering and production. Roche and Novartis dominate the cluster with research centres and API production right on the Rhine, Lonza supplies biopharma APIs from Visp and Basel city, Syngenta and Clariant in Muttenz-Schweizerhalle handle specialty chemicals. SKAN AG in Allschwil is the world market leader for pharma isolators, Bachem in Bubendorf Europe's largest peptide synthesis supplier. On top of that, dozens of mid-sized engineering offices and plant builders operate between Liestal, Reinach and Birsfelden. Engineering requirements are demanding: strict documentation for quality management, lengthy change-management processes, often legacy plants with lost symbol information from the 1990s and 2000s. While in-house engineering teams are tied up validating new plants, I take on modernisation of existing controllers and program recovery as an external partner – flexibly, on-site or remote. Focus areas for Basel customers: migration of S5 and S7-Classic controllers to S7-1500 with TIA Portal V18/V19 in pharma and plant-engineering environments, HMI retrofit to WinCC Unified including audit-trail logging and user-role management, reverse engineering of lost symbols (typical for 20+ year-old API plants where only an online dump remains) and AI-accelerated creation of engineering and validation documents – functional specs, test reports, manuals. The cross-border framework is set up and confirmed in writing before every assignment: SEM notification with the State Secretariat for Migration eight days in advance, A1 certificate via the Centre commun de la sécurité sociale Luxembourg, reverse-charge invoicing in EUR or CHF under the place-of-recipient principle, ATA Carnet via the Chambre de Commerce Luxembourg for mobile engineering devices. Drive time from Mettlach: 4:30 h via A4/A36/A35 or by train via Strasbourg–Basel SBB.

Cities & Regions

Service Area

Basel
Pratteln
Muttenz
Liestal
Allschwil
Münchenstein
Reinach
Birsfelden
Project Scenarios

Project Scenarios

Retrofit S7-Classic to S7-1500 in pharma plant

Starting point
Pharma plant builder in the Basel area, API production between Pratteln and Muttenz. Legacy plant from 2002 running S7-300 and WinCC Classic V7.
Task
Migration to S7-1500 with TIA Portal V19, HMI to WinCC Unified with audit-trail logging. Tightest production slot for commissioning: one extended weekend.
Solution
Preparation remote: hardware mapping, code migration, HMI conversion with template-based faceplates. On-site commissioning Friday evening, function test Saturday, production from Sunday with stand-by support through Wednesday.
Outcome
Plant modernised without production downtime exceeding the scheduled weekend.

Reverse engineering an online dump without symbols

Starting point
Specialty chemicals plant builder in Muttenz-Schweizerhalle. 25-year-old S7-400 controller of a reactor line. Original STEP 7 project lost, data blocks without symbol information, no network comments.
Task
Program needs to be extended with a new recipe variant. Without readable symbol information this is not possible. Manual re-documentation estimated at 8–12 person-weeks.
Solution
Online dump exported, AI-supported reconstruction of symbols based on E-plan schematics and program context. Re-documentation and new recipe implemented in TIA Portal V19, tested on a test CPU.
Outcome
Re-documentation completed in 3 instead of 10 weeks, new recipe in production.

HMI migration to WinCC Unified with audit trail

Starting point
Pharma OEM in Allschwil with 4 legacy plants, each running WinCC Classic V7 on Panel PC. End-customer requirement (Basel-area API manufacturer): audit-trail-capable HMI and user role management.
Task
Migration WinCC Classic to WinCC Unified, unified visualisation across all 4 plants, operator training. Validation documentation for the end customer's QM team.
Solution
Template-based HMI migration in TIA Portal V19, unified faceplates and alarm management, shared audit-trail database. AI-accelerated creation of functional specs and test protocols. On-site operator training.
Outcome
All 4 plants on a unified HMI platform, validation documentation handed over.

Engineering reinforcement during capacity peak

Starting point
Engineering office in the Basel area focused on pharma and specialty chemicals. Several commissionings in parallel, internal team committed, staffing bottleneck.
Task
Short-term external engineering capacity for 6 weeks, reinforcement in PLC programming (TIA Portal) and reverse engineering, without long onboarding overhead.
Solution
Direct assignment remote and on-site, integration into the office's existing engineering standards, Git versioning, daily stand-ups with the project lead.
Outcome
Both commissionings completed on schedule, the office could keep parallel customer projects.
Related pages

More background

This Basel page is meant as an entry point – services, references and profile are fully documented on the main pages.

Services

PLC programming, commissioning, retrofit, reverse engineering, AI workflows – the complete service portfolio.

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References

30+ international commissionings. Project examples from pharma, machinery and packaging.

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About me

David Prybisch – Luxembourg-based automation engineer. Background, working style, tools.

Read about me →

Switzerland overview

All three clusters compared – Basel, Zurich, Lucerne. Including cross-border setup for your purchasing team.

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FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. I do not hold a formal GMP certification, but I have pharma industry experience and know the engineering requirements: audit-trail capable HMIs (WinCC Unified with logging), clean versioning, traceable change documentation. AI-accelerated creation of engineering and validation documents (functional specs, test reports, manuals) is part of my standard setup. For classic validation documentation (IQ/OQ/PQ) I work alongside your internal quality team or a GMP validation specialist on request.

API producers (Roche, Lonza, Novartis), plant engineering (SKAN for isolators, Bachem for peptide synthesis), specialty chemicals (Syngenta, Clariant) – and numerous mid-sized OEMs and engineering offices that need extra capacity for retrofit and commissioning.

Before the assignment: SEM notification (8-day lead), A1 certificate from CCSS Luxembourg sent by email to your purchasing team. During the assignment: engineering devices on an ATA Carnet, expenses under LU law. After the assignment: invoice in EUR or CHF, reverse-charge VAT for acquisition tax declaration. Full documentation before each new assignment.

Siemens TIA Portal V17/V19, STEP 7 Classic (S7-300/400), WinCC Unified and WinCC Classic. Drives: SEW MoviDrive, SINAMICS S120/G120. Safety controllers: S7-1500F with Safety Advanced. Reverse engineering of S5 and S7-Classic programs without symbols – AI-accelerated.

Drive from Mettlach: approx. 4.5 h. Ideal for planned assignments; for emergencies, overnight stays on site. For recurring projects I also work several weeks on site – with ATA Carnet and A1 the logistics are straightforward.

Yes, this is a dedicated focus area. When only an online snapshot remains (DBs not documented, no network comments), I reconstruct symbols and documentation – AI-accelerated. Typical for 20+ year-old pharma plants where handover documentation was lost. Can be combined with migration to S7-1500.

Drive time from Mettlach via A4/A36/A35: 4:30 h, approx. 490 km. Alternatively by train (Saarbrücken–Strasbourg–Basel SBB) in 4–5 h, or by plane Luxembourg–Basel/Mulhouse in 1 h plus transfer time. Since I bring engineering devices (laptop, programming device, measurement equipment, special tools) by car, I typically drive – no air-travel logistics overhead. For multi-week assignments overnight stays in Basel city or Pratteln, both adjacent to most industrial clusters.

Yes. Basel is a tri-border region with Germany (Lörrach, Weil am Rhein) and France (Saint-Louis, Huningue). The cross-border setup for DE/FR assignments is simpler than for Switzerland – within the EU no A1 or notification is required, free movement of services applies. For Swiss subsidiaries with DE/FR-Basel sites I'm flexibly available as an external engineering partner.
Cross-linking

Other Swiss locations

ZRH·Greater Zurich

Zurich

Machinery & plant engineering · OEM

  • Bühler · Schindler
  • Sulzer · Rieter
  • ABB · Siemens CH
550 km·05:15 h from Mettlach
Region
LUC·Central Switzerland

Lucerne

Mid-market · packaging · metal processing

  • Schurter · Trisa
  • Bossard · Pilatus
  • Komax · maxon
590 km·05:45 h from Mettlach
Region

Project in Basel?

Let's discuss your pharma or plant engineering project – including cross-border compliance before the assignment starts.

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