Pfizer, New Sterile Vaccine Fill Finish Facility
DPS executed engineering, design and procurement for a new 5,000 sq.m vial fill finish facility at Pfizer Puurs, Belgium.
About This Project
DPS executed engineering, design and procurement for a new 5,000 sq.m vial fill finish facility at Pfizer Puurs, Belgium. This facility was designed to produce over 50 million vials a year of a vaccine product. The facility is a standalone segregated facility with scope for expansion to accommodate future vaccine products and was designed for a cold chain product to facilitate the filling of single dose and multi-dose vials in a high speed isolated filling line. DPS also provided key project resources through the construction, commissioning and verification phase.
Some of the key attributes of the facility were:
- Low cost of goods achieved through lean facility design
- High volumes (> 80M vials per annum) ; maximise use of process modelling to ensure optimal equipment sizing and cycle time
- Flexibility to manage change in demand and mix of single and multi-dose
- Challenging process; investigations on manufacturing strategy ongoing through the design
- Balance of Segregation and Integration with existing site
- Automation – fully integrated automation system and MES
- Expandability
- Sustainability – energy efficiency and operational strategy were early phase considerations
- Aggressive Schedule – 18 months from start of construction to product batches
- ASTM E2500 Verification Strategy
The installation included a multi-vessel formulation suite and isolated filling line with automated materials handling system as well as all standalone clean utilities and tie in to existing black utility systems.
