SP has opened a large-scale facility in Barcelona, Spain doubling its global manufacturing capacity for fill-finish services.

SP Scientific Products (SP) said that in order to meet the increasing demand for fill-finish and lyophilization (freeze dryer) equipment, it has more than doubled its global manufacturing capacity.

The new 4,000 meter Barcelona plant will be equipped to offer fill-finish services and SP is also upping its production headcount and restructuring its manufacturing processes.

Image: iStock/marchmeena29

“This is a multi-million-euro investment including the new Barcelona factory; the development of facilities is ongoing and as the factory output further increases, the recruitment of additional engineering personnel will continue to increase,” Ian Whitehall CMO at SP told BioProcess Insider.

Barcelona is not the only site where SP is making changes. At its facility in Pennsylvania, US the firm has streamlined its manufacturing process to cut construction time.

The additional capacity and strategic changes made to the firm’s manufacturing process and headcount will support reducing order-to-delivery lead times for its aseptic pharmaceutical equipment.

Such changes have allowed SP to provide what they claim to be the world’s biggest installation  of commercial freeze dryers for COVID-19 diagnostics manufacturing in May.

“We have used our success in the past to fund expansion and process improvement that in turn  enables us to offer industry leading system delivery lead-times,” Whitehall told us.

One place, two sites

Systems are under construction at the plant, which will include SP’s stoppering and capping machines and sterile filling lines.

The new facility is built next to its original factory, which the firm attained through the acquisition of i-Dositecno in October 2019.

“Now a second factory has now been invested in [at] the same site,” said Whitehall.

He continued: “Having manufacturing in both the US and Europe was a significant reason for the acquisition to serve SP’s global customer base plus adding the filling, stoppering, capping expertise that i-Dositecno are renowned for complements other fill-finish equipment manufacturing capability and technical excellence of SP, enabling SP to deliver a complete fill-finish line manufacture.”