Turnkey Pharmaceutical Projects – The Way Ahead For Your Next Project

Ineffective Communication and Coordination - Managing multiple vendors necessitates effective communication and coordination. Gaps in timelines, specifications, and expectations can result in delays, errors, and inefficiencies.

Integration Issues - Different vendors provide equipment and systems that need seamless integration. Problems during the integration process can lead to technical glitches and compatibility issues.

Inconsistent Quality Standards – Maintenance of quality standards among various vendors poses a considerable challenge. It calls for clearly outlining and defining well-documented quality standards. This approach helps avoid errors, reworking and the risk of legal disputes.

Complex Contract Negotiations - Drafting and negotiating contracts with multiple vendors is a time-consuming process.

The above reasons can come in the way of a smooth progress of a project. In such cases, many organisations turn to an alternate approach - Turnkey projects.

The term 'turnkey' signifies completeness, and turnkey projects epitomize this concept. The entire project works on a single contract. One party assumes ownership and responsibility for the entire project. This approach is widely adopted in various industries, including pharmaceuticals.

In plain words, a turnkey pharmaceutical project is a plant bought under one contract. One company designs the plant, buys the equipment, builds the plant, tests it and hands it over. The owner receives a plant that is ready to run. The word comes from that last step: the owner turns the key and starts production.

Turnkey contracts use a few terms that have exact meanings.

In this blog, we will explore the advantages of turnkey projects to help you make informed decisions for your projects.

Price Certainty - Unlike the traditional design-build-bid (DBB) method, turnkey methods enhance financial clarity. They provide a fixed cost or a well-defined budget. The project owner can also accurately calculate the return on investment (ROI) and total project cost. In DBB, construction cost stays unclear until the designing and bidding stage. Hiring a separate company to design and engineer a project may further require strong construction experience. This option could be unachievable within the given budget. As a consequence, construction bids could be higher than the budget.

Reduced Management Challenges - In a multi-vendor project, disconnects often occur between the engineering, design, and construction companies, for example, inconsistencies between the engineering drawings and the project owner's actual needs. These instabilities lead to change orders that cause further price rises. Errors and omissions are also charged as a change order, leading to increased costs. Poorly designed projects that go unnoticed until construction result in significant cost overruns. However, in turnkey projects, the price includes everything in the "Issued for Design" package, thus reducing challenges.

Reduced Cost Overruns - Fixed-cost turnkey projects simplify financial matters. Here, the project owners pay the agreed-upon sum from the contract negotiation. Increases in material costs are already included and covered by the contractor. Due to the continued nature of the project, cost overruns are reduced. Also, the involvement of the construction team in the design phase prevents project delays.

Condensed Project Timelines - A single design and construction contractor exists in turnkey projects. Due to this nature, multiple stages of the project may overlap. However, there is a benefit attached to this factor. This streamlines the procurement of materials and subcontractors to occur. As designs are being finalised, it reduces timelines and delays.

Collaborative Approach - The turnkey method encourages a collaborative approach. It allows designers and builders to align their interests and work as a team. Blaming and finger-pointing, usually occurring in DBB projects, are also reduced.

Expertise and Experience - Turnkey project providers are experts in their field. With the necessary experience and knowledge, they are able to handle various aspects of the project.

Risk Transfer - The turnkey project provider assumes responsibility for the project's success. The contractor has full control of the project. Hence, much of the project risk and responsibility is on the contractor. He is accountable for the project's schedule, cost and performance. This can include identifying potential issues early on and taking steps to mitigate them.

Reduced Management Efforts - Coordinating a project involves administrative tasks that can be time-consuming. Turnkey projects reduce the burden of the project from the owner. The owner does not have to manage and supervise the entirety of the project. The project owner can focus only on the project without managing many contracts.

Consistent Quality - Turnkey projects ensure consistency and continuity throughout the project. Setting quality standards across all stages can ensure uninterrupted workflow. It also ensures that the final deliverables meet the required standards and specifications.

Equipment and Process Integration - Turnkey projects include procuring, installing, and integrating pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment and systems. Proper integration of equipment into the facility is paramount for efficient production processing.

Comprehensive Solution – Turnkey projects offer a holistic solution. The projects cover all aspects, viz., design, procurement, construction, testing, and handover. This comprehensive approach promotes smoother execution.

Pharmaceutical Turnkey Solutions provides convenience, efficiency, and expertise. They minimize the challenges associated with managing many stakeholders. This advantage makes these projects a popular choice for organizations undertaking complex projects.

A pharma turnkey project consultant helps the owner decide what to build before the building contract is signed. The consultant studies the products, the markets and the site. The result is a concept for the plant: its size, its layout, and a first estimate of cost and time.

Pharma turnkey consulting companies work in two ways. Some give advice and a design, and other companies then build the plant. Others give the advice and also deliver the plant. In the second way, the consultancy services, the engineering, the equipment supply and the project management are in one contract. The company that gave the advice also answers for the finished plant.

Fabtech works in the second way. Our turnkey pharmaceutical engineering consultants do the first stages of a turnkey project. These stages are the direction, the concept and the design. Direction means deciding what the plant will make and for which markets. For CPCM in Algeria, Fabtech's scope included consultancy and a cleanroom equipment turnkey project. The design stages, and the documents the owner receives at each stage, are set out under pharmaceutical engineering services.

Pharma turnkey project consultants in India

Fabtech is a global pharma turnkey company with its head office in Mumbai, India. Our pharma turnkey project consultants work from there. The plants they design are in export markets across Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and the Americas. You can see the countries and the projects on our main page for pharmaceutical turnkey projects.

A turnkey pharma plant setup starts with five decisions. Only the owner can make them. A pharmaceutical turnkey project supplier needs all five before it can give a price that the owner can rely on.

1. Name the products and their forms: tablets, capsules, liquids or injectables.
2. Name the countries where you will sell. They decide which regulators will inspect the plant.
3. State the capacity: how many units the plant must make in a year, and in how many shifts.
4. Describe the site: empty land or an existing building, and which utilities are already there.
5. Give the date when you need the first commercial batch.

With these five answers, the supplier can write the scope of the turnkey pharmaceutical manufacturing plant and fix the price against that scope. Without them, two offers for the same turnkey pharma facility are hard to compare, because each supplier has assumed a different plant. Our guide to the key considerations for a successful pharmaceutical turnkey project covers the planning in detail.

The single-contract method is the same for every kind of plant. The engineering changes with the product.

A biopharma plant makes medicines from living cells, such as vaccines. Biopharma facility turnkey solutions start from the process. The utilities and the rooms are then sized around it. Biotech turnkey consulting covers the same first stages: the direction, the concept and the design. Our work in this field is described under turnkey biopharmaceutical facilities.

An oral solid dosage (OSD) plant makes tablets and capsules. An injectable plant makes sterile medicines in vials, ampoules and syringes. OSD facility turnkey engineering and the injectable plant turnkey project are each described under the plants we build, on the page for pharma turnkey projects and the plants we build.

One turnkey project that Fabtech delivered is for Lab & Allied in Kenya. It covered the oral solid dosage, laboratory and sterile areas. You can see the pharmaceutical construction projects that Fabtech has completed on our projects page.

At Fabtech Technologies, our turnkey pharmaceutical projects represent comprehensive solutions. We leave no room whatsoever for gaps between 'start' and 'finish.' We have everything covered that falls in between. From being pharma process equipment manufacturer to being turnkey pharma project consultant, the solutions we deliver are fully operational and ready for execution. We ensure compliance with regulations without the need for further construction or modifications. With our 'turnkey' approach, we make sure you only have to simply "turn the key" and proceed with your project.

As turnkey pharma project consultants, we are committed to turning every project into a dream project. Our solutions align with the evolving needs of the pharmaceutical industry. We consider a project finished when it reaches the beneficiaries, making a meaningful impact on their health and community. Read about our 10 steps to your dream project.

This year is marked with changing weather patterns, signalling climate change. Fabtech has stepped up by contributing to healthcare through pharmaceutical projects.

All pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities we built or the pharma engineering projects we undertake are connected to thousands of lives. We ensure that each one counts.