Nippon Shinyaku Corporation's Plant in Odawara of Kanagawa, Japan.
The pie diagram shows the level of spending on health in Japan, as a percentage of GDP.

The Nippon Shinyaku Corporation’s pharmaceuticals formulation production plant Odawara, Japan, began construction in January 2000 and was completed in February 2001.

The Nippon Shinyaku Corporation is a pharmaceuticals manufacturer based in Kyoto. The firm aimed to improve its overall productivity by integrating all of its production facilities at the Odawara plant, strengthening its research and development (R&D) activities, and refocusing its business toward overseas markets which have a higher rate of growth than Japan.

According to public statements, Nippon Shinyaku will continue to focus on innovation, put further resources into new drug research and development, and promote faster decision making and operational implementation by incorporating more information technology into both the manufacturing process and the marketing system.

The company says that it invests the equivalent of 14% to 15% of sales in R&D projects.

Odawara plant

The existing Odawara plant covered 60,000m² of floor space, while the replacement plant uses 16,500m². The total investment cost was around $57m.

It is equipped with the latest computer systems for automated production lines.

“The firm aimed to improve its overall productivity by integrating all of its production facilities at the Odawara plant.”

In line with the company’s global development strategy, the plant was constructed to conform to the high international standards of good manufacturing practice (GMP) while also centralising production facilities, raising production capacity and lowering costs through streamlining and greater efficiency.

The company is also planning to introduce more information technology to increase the efficiency of all office departments and speed up decision making.

Engineering, procurement and construction services for the plant

The Chiyoda Corporation was selected to carry out engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) for the pharmaceutical plant project.

The service is based on an IT system named I-plant 21, designed for use in an increasingly competitive market. The I-plant 21 is an integrated and intelligent project engineering system for use throughout a project life cycle.

The IT system consists of seven major subsystems ranging from front-end engineering to plant completion. It is electronically integrated and uses standardised data and workflow.

Front-end engineering systems

The I front is the front-end engineering system at the plant. It provides integrated functions for process simulation, database-driven process-flow diagram (PFD), process and instrument drawing (P&ID) and automatic plant layout.

The information from I front is electronically transferred to downstream systems as required.

Engineering database system for pharmaceutical formulation plant

The I eng is the engineering database system for each discipline’s design activities. The information is openly available to engineers working directly on the project.

The integrated 3D-design system is used to develop the spatial plant models.

Project material management system for the pharmaceutical production plant

The I mat is the project material management system that controls all materials, at all project phases, from material take off, through procurement and transportation to field construction. The material take-off information is electronically transferred from I 3D.

Field construction system for the project

The I fields is the field construction system. It provides necessary functions for field material control, preparation of isometric/spool drawings linked to I 3D, piping welding control, plant turn over control and schedule, as well as cost and progress management.

The document management system (I dms) provides a platform to retrieve, review and monitor all project documents electronically, including vendor prints.

The project management system (I pms) provides a platform to plan and execute the work, mobilise the required resources, monitor schedules, costs and progress and take corrective actions.