Process Alliance was contacted by an architecture and engineering (A/E) design firm to assist in creating the conceptual design and cost data of a new plant for a large pharmaceutical company. While the A/E firm was skilled at what they did, they did not have expertise in designing processes, designing process flows or executing processes in a plant.
Process Alliance came in to lay out the processing areas, select equipment and develop an equipment cost estimate. Process Engineering and Engineering Technology Director John Quatroche led the charge. There was a 3-month time crunch, and in that time Process Alliance had to design the overall flow of the plant, design room layouts for maximum efficiency, and compile a cost-effective list of equipment needed in the complex plant.
The company wanted a factory that could handle batch sizes ranging from clinical trial sizes to full-scale production. Process Alliance developed a highly efficient overall plant layout which allowed a room-to-room process flow, eliminating the need to handle high volumes of liquid product streams by tote movement. This also allowed for much easier processing and a much smaller overall footprint for the building and afforded the ability to clearly separate product and waste streams.
Through working with equipment vendors, experts at Process Alliance were able to quickly develop an equipment list suitable for the large range of processing required as well as an equipment cost that was favorable given the complexity of the plant. Both the A/E firm and the pharmaceutical company were pleased with the work done by Process Alliance, and the pharmaceutical company was able to move forward in getting the new plant ready for production.