Client: Leading Pharmaceutical Manufacturer
Location: North America
A leading animal pharmaceutical producer contracted with EAD to provide multidisciplinary engineering to support the replacement of two of their facility’s antigen production units. The project included the replacement of pharmaceutical fermentors and the utility heat exchanger skids supporting them.
EAD worked closely and iteratively with the client, contractors, and equipment manufacturers to successfully execute the project. EAD was able to facilitate creative solutions for our client by understanding the client’s processes and shattering the boundaries of typical cookie-cutter design strategies.
A major design challenge EAD worked to overcome was to determine a method of transporting the new equipment into the building and to the locations where it could be installed. The new fermentor vessels were too large to be brought into the production room though any of the existing doors. The mechanical space where the utility heat exchanger skids were to be located was space limited and difficult to access.
EAD developed a method to transport the fermentors directly into the production room by designing a custom roof opening and construction enclosure walls. The design enabled other fermentation units in the same room to continue production during the installation of the new fermentor. The roof access design incorporated several modifications, including structural reframing, the relocation of process piping, and temporary HVAC re-routing.
EAD also showed considerable creativity with regards to the installation of the utility skids serving the fermentors. The location was on a mezzanine in a mechanical area with a narrow entry path. Utility skids were designed to be made up of multiple sections and disassembled to fit through the entry path. Overall dimensions of the available space, tight access to plant piping connections, and sufficient maintenance access were problematic design constraints. By performing pre-installation work such as piping modifications and relocating maintenance equipment during planned shutdown windows, we ensured the install could take place without interrupting the production output of the nearby units.
Project Highlights
- Increased the production unit capacity by more than 60%
- Developed an innovative solution to get new process equipment to its destination in the plant
- Maintained hygienic containment of a construction area within an operating pharmaceutical production space
- Improvements to the network infrastructure design
Services
- Engineering
- PM & CM Project Support
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