2024 ISPE FOYA Category Winner for Operations, Project Execution: Pfizer Asia Pacific Manufacturing Ltd
Pfizer Asia Pacific Manufacturing Ltd has been honored with the 2024 ISPE Facility of the Year Award (FOYA) Category Award Operations in Project Execution. This prestigious award recognizes the outstanding efforts behind the Pfizer API Facility Extension, commonly referred to as Tuas 2, located in Tuas, Singapore.
Location: Tuas, Singapore
Project: Pfizer API Facility Extension (Tuas 2)
About Tuas 2
Tuas 2 is a massive 38,873-square-meter (429,000-square-foot) facility spread over 8.5 hectares. This state-of-the-art site includes a variety of advanced structures and equipment:
- Organic Synthesis Plant (OSP): A five-floor building with five equipment pools for batch sizes ranging from 50 to 1000 kilograms
- Dry Milling Building: Equipped with a jet mill, hammer mill, and a pack-off suite
- High Bay Warehouse: Facilitating large-scale storage needs
- Dispensaries and Drum Store: For efficient handling and storage of materials
- Laboratory and Office Building: Supporting research and administrative functions
- Central Utilities Building (CUB), Thermal Oxidizer, and Wastewater Treatment Plant: Ensuring environmental compliance and efficient utility management
In addition to these facilities, Tuas 2 is designed with future expansion in mind, allowing for the addition of new processing suites, dry-end suites, dispensaries, warehouse space, and ancillary equipment as needed.
Design and Efficiency
Tuas 2 stands out for its high level of automation and design focused on lean material movement, reducing lead times, and optimizing process turnarounds. The facility features a central pool concept and a spine corridor connecting all main buildings. This design ensures efficient workflow and minimizes production delays.
The use of discrete processing suites (equipment pool concept), wash/wet in place (WIP) technology, and process analytical technology (PAT) for detecting cleaning end points, coupled with automated cleaning recipes, is expected to reduce process turnaround times by 70%.
Overcoming Challenges During the Pandemic
The concept design phase of Tuas 2 was completed in Q4 2019, with the basis of design (BOD) starting in Q2 2020 and construction commencing in Q1 2021. Remarkably, this project was executed entirely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite global supply chain disruptions and industry suspensions, the project, led by Pfizer in collaboration with Jacobs and Exyte, was delivered on time in Q2 2023.
At the peak of construction, over 4,500 workers were on-site daily. The leadership team prioritized safety, implementing the Incident Free Workplace (IFW) behavioral-based safety program, resulting in over 14 million safe work hours and zero lost time accidents. Remote collaboration was facilitated through virtual tours using cameras and microphones, ensuring continuous progress and stakeholder engagement despite travel restrictions.
Recognition and Achievement
The completion of Tuas 2 ahead of schedule (one year early) and under budget (about 20% less) with no lost time incidents underscores the exceptional efforts of every team member involved. This project exemplifies excellence in project execution and operations, earning Pfizer Asia Pacific Manufacturing Ltd the 2024 ISPE FOYA Category Winner for Operations and Project Execution.
Congratulations to the entire team for their dedication, innovation, and commitment to excellence in pharmaceutical engineering.
The recipients of the 2024 FOYA category awards will receive formal recognition during the 2024 FOYA Banquet and Awards Celebration in Orlando, Florida, USA, scheduled for Sunday, 13 October 2024. This banquet, held as part of the 2024 ISPE Annual Meeting & Expo, will include acceptance speeches by the awardees, keynote sessions led by prominent industry figures, and ample networking opportunities with pharmaceutical manufacturing and engineering professionals.
Register for the 2024 ISPE Annual Meeting & Expo and FOYA Banquet and Awards Celebration
About the ISPE FOYA Program
Established in 2005, 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. Visit ISPE.org/FOYA for more information.
