Global Pharmaceutical Company and US Government uses Access Orchestrate for pandemic planning and scheduling

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Background

Baseline Controls, Inc. located in Raleigh, North Carolina, is a planning and engineering consulting company, working with global firms in the pharmaceutical, hi-tech, construction and utility sectors. Its clients depend on mission-critical scheduling and planning to deliver projects – which could include anything from launching a new pharmaceutical drug or IT system to construction work or a facility shutdown. Drawing on years of industry experience, its consultants give time-pressed professionals within these companies the tools they need to deliver projects to the highest standard.

Taking an integrated approach to planning, Baseline Controls prides itself on matching complex projects to schedules, and tasks to actions, to ensure work is completed on time and on budget.

Baseline Controls’ planning expertise is such that it was commissioned to carry out a facility design capacity study for the US government and a leading pharmaceutical company. As part of a public-private initiative, the two stakeholders were set to deliver a $1billion facility, capable of producing enough vaccines for half the US population, in preparation for a possible future flu pandemic.

US Government requirements

As part of its pandemic readiness contract with the government, the pharmaceutical company needed a capacity analysis to determine whether it would be able to produce the required 150 million doses of vaccine. It was not only to determine capacity but also in a maximum delivery timeline of 6 months.

Armed with data from a limited number of initial batch runs, including the product cycle times, Baseline Controls evaluated market-leading planning and scheduling model software, in order to identify one solution that would provide a proof-of-concept for the stakeholders.

“Since the facility wasn’t yet running at full capacity, we needed a model to evaluate if the facility could deliver on its full design objectives.”
Adam Barlow, principal and founder of Baseline Controls

Following an extensive review process, Baseline Controls chose Access Orchestrate, a planning and scheduling platform that integrates with other systems. Optimized for the pharmaceutical industry, this software allows users to carry out ‘what-if?’ analysis, and make best use of their available resources to save time, cut wastage and improve operational efficiency. Its Gantt Chart format, which includes Drag-and-Drop functionality, is designed to make it easy for key personnel to access and update information, removing the need for numerous spreadsheets.

“We were confident that Access Orchestrate could deliver the analysis we needed. I employed a bright industrial engineering graduate to build the capacity model, and he just ran with it. The detailed model he created using Orchestrate enabled the client to evaluate its process performance and identify areas for improvement.”
Adam Barlow, principal and founder of Baseline Controls

Phase 1: Capacity Planning & What-If Analysis

Using Access Orchestrate, Baseline Controls’ consultants were able to conduct a detailed analysis of capacity long before full production had begun. Once the model was built, and the level of demand identified, the team could show how long each batch run would take – and, crucially, highlight any areas where equipment was being over or under-utilized.

These findings formed the basis of a report, which was later presented to stakeholders. A total of 10 areas were identified for remediation. These remediation areas were value ranked using data from Orchestrate and the top ones became actual projects for the process engineering team. The analysis from the model showed how the manufacturing site could ultimately, speed up the entire demand delivery by three weeks. Even though the facility was not yet in commercial operation, Baseline Controls’ analysis provided the reassurances the client needed that the facility could, with some strategic process improvement projects, produce the number of vaccines to assert that it was‘pandemic-ready’.

Access Orchestrate was therefore used to prove that the facility could deliver results at a capacity planning and ‘what-if’ level, before being rolled out further.

“The speed at which Baseline Controls developed a proof-of-concept, based on Access Orchestrate, was tremendous. Following implementation, they built the model in just under two weeks and provided the kind of detailed what-if analysis crucial for a project of this scale and nature.”
Rod Schregardus, Operations Director at Access Group

Phase 2: Day-to-day scheduling

Since Access Orchestrate was first implemented to prove capacity, the pharmaceutical company has scaled up its use of the software across the site for day-to-day production scheduling.

Much of this has been possible because of Baseline Controls’ stepwise approach, which meant the client could move seamlessly from scenario planning to other functions, like sample management, quality control and materials planning. Today, production managers are able to see how every resource and piece of equipment is being used each quickly and easily.

Access Orchestrate has also brought a number of time-saving benefits to the company, allowing teams to move from a manual, and potentially inaccurate, system of spreadsheets to full production visibility. It means that busy professionals are free to spend more time analyzing data, scheduling equipment maintenance and ensuring all resources are being used optimally, rather than undertaking administrative tasks.

The software also makes the process of sharing data much leaner, with each tier in the company structure able to view and act on information that is relevant to them. On the ground, teams rely on hour-by-hour shop floor data capture to ensure production runs to plan. Key findings are then communicated to senior managers, who can use the data to improve overall operational efficiency and develop longer-term strategies.

Conclusion

Before rolling out Access Orchestrate to the wider business, the facility was struggling with how to meet the projected max batch run of six per week, managing just four to five. But, by using the software, the team was able to identify bottlenecks and available capacity that weren’t apparent in the previous spreadsheets, act on them and meet the target of six per week. Ultimately, the fact that Orchestrate had already delivered in the capacity planning stage of the project meant that the results it delivered could be used as a reference point for the wider business.

Now, the site has come to rely heavily on Access Orchestrate for everything from primary and secondary manufacturing operations to maintenance and shutdown/turnaround planning. The hour-by-hour rolling schedule is maintained by a small planning group but communicated throughout the organization. Having a “one schedule” mentality effectively makes the site run more efficiently for a simple as reducing the time to get an answer on when.

“Feedback from our client has been positive. The lead planner learned how to use Access Orchestrate extremely quickly, and it has now been adopted on a much broader scale. Access has also been proactive in taking onboard our client’s comments, continually developing the software to make the user interface even more intuitive.”
Adam Barlow, principal and founder of Baseline Controls

As well as improving positive outcomes for its clients, Baseline Controls has seen a number of commercial rewards too, with 10 further Orchestrate projects for the company secured on the back of its initial scoping study. Baseline Controls and The Access Group have created a great partnership that in return has equalled great benefits for their clients.

"Using Orchestrate gave our client proof of concept confidence and for a vaccine facility, like this one; it translates to lives potentially saved."
Adam Barlow, principal and founder of Baseline Controls