On a recent $130 million pharmaceutical manufacturing plant project, Torcon’s team implemented its innovative Set to Work program that was focused on addressing the initial requirements of the process equipment and associated systems.

In a pharmaceutical manufacturing environment, with millions of dollars of equipment sitting for months before actually producing product, clients must environmentally protect the equipment, as well as complete a long process of start-up and commissioning—just to begin the equally long process of testing and validation for FDA compliance. Through our experience on similar projects, the Torcon team understood the intense pressure faced by client user and engineering staff to get their process systems and equipment up and running.

Set to Work is used by Torcon to identify the minimum work scope that must be completed to allow individual systems or pieces of equipment to start up and operate. The process establishes environmental conditions to support the installation of sensitive process equipment, and the actual utilities or services required to start up and operate the equipment safely.

Armed with this knowledge, Set to Work proactively expedites and prioritizes work elements to achieve early equipment start-up. Because the process was initiated early in the project and incorporated into the schedule, there was no cost impact to the project. Challenging conditions, such as early delivery and installation of cooling systems needed for the filling equipment, was accommodated in the original schedule during the purchasing process.

Through the Set to Work approach, Torcon was able to achieve client start-up activities well in advance of mechanical completion, facilitating more efficient commissioning and validation. Because some elements of mechanical or final completion are inconsequential to starting or operating the equipment, they didn’t impact the client’s ability to proceed.

Starting at the earliest possible point had huge advantages to our client and to the project team. Prioritizing activities by understanding our clients needs—that’s working smart.

Torcon is a company that prides itself on digging into the details—to truly understand the goals of the user group and how the facility we’re building is intended to operate. With many of the technical facilities we build, success isn’t simply achieved by turning over completed structures within budget and schedule. Success is more tightly intertwined with our client’s objectives for equipment installation and readiness to begin operation.