2017 ISPE Facility of the Year Award Winners Announced

The International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) and its Facility of the Year Awards (FOYA) program today announced its 2017 Category Award winners:

    Abbott (Operational Excellence)
    Bristol-Myers Squibb (Facility Integration)
    Cook Pharmica (Equipment Innovation)
    Eli Lilly and Company (Process Innovation and Facility of the Future)
    Jazz Pharmaceuticals Ireland Limited (Project Execution)

FOYA’s judging panel has also awarded Honorable Mentions to:

    Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation
    Novartis-Penn Center for Advanced Cellular Therapies
    Kalbio Global Medika

This premier global awards program recognizes innovation and creativity in manufacturing facilities serving the regulated healthcare industry. Projects selected for the FOYA program set the standard for pharmaceutical facilities of the future by demonstrating excellence in facility design, construction, and operations.

“We are proud to honor these eight organizations that share ISPE’s commitment to innovate and advance pharmaceutical manufacturing technology for the benefit of all global patients,” said John Bournas, ISPE CEO and President.

2017 Facility of the Year Category Award Winners

Abbott is the winner of the Operational Excellence category for success of its “Operational Excellence – A New Quality Approach" project initiated at the Abbott Diagnostics facility in Longford, Ireland. The site has increased productivity, improved changeover efficiencies, eliminated backorders, and enhanced product quality--while also reducing cost per unit, cycle times, equipment down-time, and inventory holdings.

Bristol-Myers Squibb won the Facility Integration category for its Biologics Development Building and the Clinical Manufacturing Building project located in Devens, Massachusetts, USA. These facilities were recognized as outstanding examples of how to integrate new capabilities within an existing plant through careful design, good collaboration, as well as creative engineering.

Cook Pharmica is the winner of the Equipment Innovation category for its Flexible Filling Line project in Bloomington, Indiana, USA. This collaborative development between owner, suppliers, and engineering experts delivered a novel application of commercially available and custom developed equipment innovation manufacturing solutions that drove superior commercial market changing technology and supply chain flexibility in a unique “ready-to-use” vial platform.

Eli Lilly and Company has been awarded winner of the Process Innovation category for its Continuous Direct Compression Manufacturing Kits 2 & 3 project located in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA and Carolina, Puerto Rico. Their forward thinking approach brought on the implementation of Continuous Direct Compression (CDC) Process and other process innovations in their oral solid dose (OSD) facilities across their manufacturing network.

Eli Lilly and Company has also been named winner of the Facility of the Future category for its process development, production platform commitment, and deployment of three replicate operational continuous oral solid dosage (OSD) production facilities. Fundamental to the success of the project was the development of the progressive mass balance control scheme anchored by advanced automation and PAT technology— key to insuring consistent control, low process variability, and high quality assurance.

Jazz Pharmaceuticals Ireland Limited is the winner of the Project Execution category for its creation of a greenfield manufacturing facility in Athlone, Ireland. Having no prior experience internally on building or operating a manufacturing facility, the Jazz “Project Rock” approach was highly pragmatic, and a model for lean project execution and integration of the investment from “project” phase to licensed GMP operations.

Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation received an Honorable Mention for its facility in West Columbia, South Carolina, USA. The Nephron SC project was recognized for its use and integration of a suite of industry leading technologies such as laser guided vehicles, automated warehousing, robotics to eliminate human intervention, and track and trace technology.

Novartis-Penn Center for Advanced Cellular Therapies received an Honorable Mention for its Center for Advanced Cellular Therapies (CACT) project in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. The facility leverages pharmaceutical engineering principles to successfully merge academic, corporate, and medical considerations thereby creating an innovative center to advance personalized medicine.

1. Kalbio Global Medika received an Honorable Mention for its greenfield Biotech Facility project in Jakarta, Indonesia. Kalbio’s young and highly motivated project team is an outstanding example of the “can do spirit”. It is a fine demonstration of the talent and potential for biomanufacturing in the region.

The 2017 FOYA Category Winners will be formally recognized at the ISPE Facility of the Year Awards Banquet on 6 June 2017, in Arlington, Virginia, USA. The banquet, held in conjunction with the ISPE/FDA/PQRI Quality Manufacturing Conference, will feature presentations from the FOYA judging panel and other noted industry leaders. The 2017 FOYA Overall Winner will be announced at the 2017 ISPE Annual Meeting & Expo from 29 October – 1 November in San Diego, California, USA. Winners will also have the opportunity to make presentations during educational sessions at the ISPE Annual Meeting.

About the ISPE Facility of the Year Awards Program

Established in 2004, The Facility of the Year Awards (FOYA) recognize state-of-the-art projects utilizing new, innovative technologies to improve the quality of products, reduce the cost of producing high-quality medicines, and demonstrate advances in project delivery. The FOYA program provides a platform for the pharmaceutical science and manufacturing industry to showcase its accomplishments in facility design, construction, and operation, while sharing the development of new applications of technology and cutting-edge approaches.