Meet Bristol-Myers Squibb – 2020 Facility of the Year Award Winner for Project Execution
Bristol-Myers Squibb is the 2020 Facility of the Year Award Winner for Project Execution for their Multi-Purpose Cell Culture (MPCC) in Cruiserath, County Dublin, Ireland.
Projects selected for the Project Execution Award have implemented novel tools and approaches to improve efficiency, overcome an unusual challenge, and promote effectiveness and have organized stakeholders and project team participants in ways that led to successful outcomes.
Project: Cruiserath Biologics Campus
The project demonstrated an exemplary, positive collaboration between all project stakeholders and team members. The facility now serves as a much sought‐after employer in the area and provides a comfortable, aesthetic work environment for employees.
FOYA Judges
Bristol Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover, develop, and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. The biopharmaceutical industry is thriving in Ireland and Bristol Myers Squibb’s (BMS) Cruiserath Biologics is at its forefront. In 2014, BMS closed its Dublin-based Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient site and announced a $1 billion commitment to building a new world-class biologics manufacturing facility in its place. The investment helped BMS increase its biologics manufacturing capacity and played a central role in its global manufacturing network. At the time, the project was the largest single investment by BMS outside of the United States and the second largest life sciences sector investment in the history of the Irish state.
BMS’s primary goal was to build a fully operational and qualified facility capable of commercially manufacturing cell culture product by January 2019 and process performance qualification batches by September 2018. They did so while staying on budget and meeting all cGMP, environmental, safety, local authority requirements, and European and United States safety and regulatory compliance standards.
The project was at one time the largest pharmaceutical project being undertaken in Europe with the site peaking at more than 2,200 people. A robust safety culture centered on collaboration was one of the keys to delivering an exemplary safety record with more than 6,500,000 site hours worked and a TRIR rate of 0.68 (less than ¼ of the industry norm). One of the reasons the project was successfully completed on time, on budget, and with a stellar safety record was the “One Team” project philosophy BMS promoted from the outset. All team members partnered with a focus on open communication, transparency, collaboration, flexibility, fairness, rapid and local decision making, and safety.
Design was implemented in multiple locations including Ireland, India, and the U.S. and used state-of-the-art design tools and collaboration platforms. Similar innovation was applied during the construction phase. Much of the specialist biotech equipment was ordered in advance of the detailed design phase to support the aggressive project schedule. Other concepts used to deliver the project rapidly included the use of super skids and modules for process/utility equipment, multi-shift field construction, and the construction of a temporary data center. The Commissioning, Qualification, and Validation team was mobilized early and embedded in the design reviews. An additional, and innovated tactic, was to hire new college graduates and train them via a new program developed jointly with Ireland’s National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT). This approach allowed the site team to quickly grow to 400 members who were ready to operate the new facility.
“With growing demands for its immuno-oncology medicine, Bristol Myers Squibb needed to build a facility for the future,” said Koti Vadlamudi, Jacobs Senior Vice President, Advanced Facilities. “The project is a huge success for Jacobs, Bristol Myers Squibb, and ultimately the many patients that rely on these medicines produced in the Dublin campus.”
Has your company recently designed, built or renovated a state-of-the-art pharmaceutical or biotechnology facility that is best in its class?
ISPE is now accepting entries into the 2021 ISPE Facility of the Year Awards (FOYA) Program, and your facility may be eligible to apply. Learn more about the Facility of the Year Awards submission process and your company could be the next Facility of the Year Awards Category winner. Nominate your facility in 2021
Want to learn more about the 2020 FOYA winning projects? Get inspiration for future innovations at these complimentary digital events.
Get a free Facility of the Year Awards Day Pass to take an in-depth look at each of the 2020 FOYA winning projects during the 2020 ISPE Annual Meeting & Expo. Claim your complimentary pass today to benefit from 3 hours of compelling and insightful sessions.
Join ISPE and prominent industry leaders on Tuesday, 3 November, as we come together to recognize the outstanding achievements of all the FOYA winners during the 2020 Facility of the Year Awards Virtual Banquet.
