Two of our Project Engineers, Krzysztof and Cole, travelled to Switzerland recently for a site visit. They were tasked with updating the Feed4ward automation control boxes on four chromatography columns provided by our customer at a pharmaceutical facility.

These columns are crucial for separating chemical compounds in drug manufacturing. It is therefore essential that they are maintained to keep them running efficiently.

The control boxes were located in a clean room. A sealed environment designed specifically to minimise dust and other contaminants, this poses additional challenges. All workers entering the space must wear gowns, gloves, masks, and hair nets. Plus all tools and equipment must be fully cleaned with isopropyl alcohol.

This visit was Cole’s first experience of working in a clean room environment. Always adhering to our own strict procedures when on site, we also needed to allow for additional time for accessing and leaving the room due to the gowning procedure.

In addition, we discovered that the control boxes had been modified by the end-user without our knowledge. Krzysztof and Cole had to quickly adapt their work plan to address these changes, a testament to their flexibility and dedication under a compressed schedule.

They still managed to successfully meet all the main objectives of their site visit, much to the customer’s satisfaction. And within the original timescales too.

Nice work, both of you!