Quality Digest
Published: Tuesday, March 27, 2007 - 22:00 The awards were presented by the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering, INTERPHEX Conference and Exhibition and Pharmaceutical Processing magazine, which together select winners for the award annually. Companies submit entries for the award program, and this year, the submissions were especially varied. “There is something truly remarkable and innovative about every single submission,” says Scott Ludlum, ISPE director of business initiatives. “The five category winners hail from four different countries. This diversity demonstrates that the awards program is a true reflection of the global nature of the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry.” Cook Pharmica was recognized for its transformation of an abandoned television assembly plant into an innovative new contract-manufacturing facility. The result was the company’s Project Phoenix building, which includes 124,000 sq ft that houses offices, a manufacturing train, a shell for a second manufacturing train, development laboratories, quality control laboratories, a warehouse and process utilities. Construction on the facility took 10 months, and a second 450,000-sq-ft building on the site is already being planned. Genentech’s six-building, 500,000-sq-ft Oceanside, California manufacturing facility was recognized for an innovative project-delivery approach it calls “Design-Build Hybrid.” The process-focused approach used a team that consisted of a general contractor, company representatives and engineers to unanimously select subcontractors to build the facility, which was completed on time and within budget. Shanghai Roche Pharmaceuticals’ Shanghai High Potent Production Project produces highly active medicines with strict containment guidelines. The project was up and running remarkably fast—two years from the approval of funds to commercial production. Additionally, the building that houses the project was built using local resources and the highest standards for environmental safety. Taiyo Pharmaceutical Industry Co. was recognized for its project to manufacture six types of prefilled syringes, which includes four plastic syringes and two glass syringes. Since establishing the successful project, the company has also started producing prefilled syringes with high-speed type isolators. Vetter Pharma-Fertigung GmbH & Co.’s New Facility Ravensburg Vetter South was recognized for its process innovation. The facility opened in October 2006 and has two filling lines; two more are planned to open in the near future. Automation was planned throughout the building, which also maintains high standards for sterility, safety and quality. The facility has a capacity of 90 million units per year. The award winners will be featured at several events this year: INTERPHEX2007, to be held April 24-26 in New York City; the ISPE Facilities Summit, which will be held June 4-7 in Arlington, Virginia; and the ISPE Annual Meeting, which will be held Nov. 4-7 in Las Vegas. For more information, visit www.facilityoftheyear.org. For 40 years Quality Digest has been the go-to source for all things quality. Our newsletter, Quality Digest, shares expert commentary and relevant industry resources to assist our readers in their quest for continuous improvement. Our website includes every column and article from the newsletter since May 2009 as well as back issues of Quality Digest magazine to August 1995. We are committed to promoting a view wherein quality is not a niche, but an integral part of every phase of manufacturing and services.
FDA Compliance Pharmaceutical Facilities Recognized for Excellence
Five pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities scattered around the globe recently received Facility of the Year awards for significantly advancing the industry’s efforts to produce higher-quality medicines at lower costs.
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