Wyckoff Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Plant Expansion, South Haven, Michigan, USA

During the first quarter of 1998, Wyckoff, Inc. (a division of Catalytica Pharmaceuticals), started a nine-month, $6m, internal expansion at its South Haven, Michigan, site. The aim of the project was to expand the company's production capacity by adding a second production plant to the site.

WYCKOFF INC

Wyckoff expanded its cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practice) capabilities during the period 1998–1999 to 52,000 gallons of reactor capacity. Wyckoff, a small chemical and pharmaceutical company that was acquired by Catalytica Pharmaceuticals in 1999 for $60m; Wyckhoff had the chemical process development and pilot plant capabilities required for Catalytica's expansion.

In December 2000 Catalytica Pharmaceuticals was itself acquired by DSM Fine Chemicals for $800m ($750m in cash and assuming $50m in debt) to operate under the name of DSM Catalytica Pharmaceuticals from January 2001. DSM kept the pharma division and spun off the combustion systems and advanced technology units of Catalytica.

In a 2004–2005 restructuring plan DSM announced the closure of the South Haven plant from the start of 2007 (Vision 2010). However in 2006 the South Haven plant was sold to Albemarle Corporation, a custom fine chemical manufacturer.

The sale was completed by the end of September 2006. Albemarle required the plant's cGMP active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) capacity to complement its own API capacity.

MODELLING FOR SUCCESS

As the second production plant (1998 construction) consisted of large quantities of small piping and very limited spacing, the contractors decided to model the complete plant in 3D and use the 3D model to resolve spacing issues while in the process of designing the new facility. This method was selected rather than undertake design during construction.

This saved a great deal of time in the design stage and allowed the project team to create isometric drawings automatically based on the information contained in the model rather than by hand procedures, achieving a high level of accuracy. This has become more and more important with modular construction in recent times. The 3D model was followed very precisely during the construction phase of the project to ensure high quality, accurate and consistent installation across the project.

NEW PLANT PROJECT CHARACTERISTICS

The construction project involved the addition of a new 18,000ft² API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient) and a speciality chemical manufacturing facility to be placed adjacent to the existing Plant1. Plant2 houses the SMU (Small Manufacturing Unit), Plant2 Production Area and the Pilot Plant. The new plant is capable of producing APIs on commercial scale.

The project team executed the project in phases. The first phase consisted of preliminary process design, erecting the building and the installation of plant infrastructure. This was completed by mid 1998. The SMU and all plant utilities were installed as the second phase, completed in early 1999. Completion of the Production Area was the final phase, which was by January 2000.

AUTOPLANT 3D MODELLING

The piping models and drawings of the project were developed using the software AutoPLANT Piping and AutoPLANT Equipment. Using ISOGEN, an automatic isometric drawing generation programme, the piping isometric drawings were extracted from the 3D models. ISOGEN is an automatic isometric drawing generation program.

While in the design process, the 3D structures were created using AutoPLANT's MultiSTEEL Modeler running as an auto-CAD add-on. The MCCs, cable trays, IE&C panels, conduit and devices were entered into the systems as 3D shapes and objects. Some of these were generated with AutoPLANT and others were extrusions of 2D drawings.

The drawings resulting from the 3D model of the Production Area consisted of 70 piping drawings (plans, sections and elevations), 720 piping isometrics, 10 structural drawings, and 15 IE&C layout plans.

Since all of the plant's equipment was modelled using the AutoPLANT Equipment software package, it made it possible to generate any view of the equipment. The X-REF capability was then extensively used in order to permit inter-discipline sharing of all the information regarding the project design.

The piping materials included Teflon lined, socket fusion PVDF, hastelloy, stainless steel, Tri- multiple carbon steel specifications, tubing with Swagelok fittings and Clover fittings. The fitting, piping and valve dimensional/material data were entered directly into the project database using the AutoPLANT SpecGen (Specification Generator) software.

The project piping material specifications were a direct product of this database. As the designers could only input components represented in the database this proved to be critical. Therefore, the resulting model and construction precisely matched the Piping Material Specifications.

LEAD CONTRACTORS

Wyckoff contracted with VECO, a company to provide engineering and construction services. Rebis – Industrial Workgroup Software Company, Walnut Creek, California was asked for the project design and plant architecture.