Vetter plans to invest approximately EUR 300 million ($338 million) to expand and upgrade its manufacturing facilities over an estimated five-year period.

Some facility expansions are already ongoing at several of the company's German locations, including its Ravensburg Vetter West'center for visual inspection and logistics. Structural work for the facility enlargement, which will more than double its current capacity, is completed, with the site being on schedule to become fully operational in 2017. In addition, the Ravensburg Vetter South production site has also been designated for expansion as has the Ravensburg Schuetzenstrasse facility, where initial construction activities began in 2013. All three site expansions will result in additional capacities for drug product manufacturing and logistic services.

A central technology element of the planned upgrades will be the implementation of an in-house-made improved restricted access barrier system (RABS) concept, which the company says will contribute to increased operational excellence in aseptic manufacturing. For decades, Vetter has relied on RABS as one of two technologies for its aseptic filling processes, the other being isolators.To better meet future industry trends in quality, safety and flexibility, a corporate project team has evolved this ‘Improved RABS concept by combining the advantages of isolator and RABS technology. The core of the approach is a three-hour cycle and fully automated decontamination of the cleanroom using hydrogen peroxide. Following a successful pilot project in a select cleanroom, the company will now implement this decontamination concept in all of its cleanrooms within the next years.

The planned activities are designed to meet future customer expectations and regulatory requirements at an early-stage of product development. 

Source: Vetter