Maximizing Production Capacity for Growth Part 1: Finding 5% through Facility Optimization

Craig Sandstrom, PhD, Director of Process Engineering, Fluor Corporation

Craig is one of Fluor’s resident biotechnology experts and is a Director of Process Engineering within the Industrial Services business. He received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University and has more than 21 years of industry experience, with the last 17 years working with Fluor. During this time, he has worked dozens of bioPharmaceutical facility design and optimization efforts, with an installed value in excess of $1.6 billion. These manufacturing facilities have included both drug substance and final drug product, with products including recombinant proteins (monoclonal antibodies, enzyme replacements, hormones, and growth factors), vaccines and human plasma derived proteins, with manufacturing scales ranging from 500 to 20,000 liters (bioreactor or fermenter capacity) for the drug substance facilities and from 5MM to 50MM vials/syringes per year. More recently, Craig has been leading Fluor’s process efforts around facility optimization and capacity planning, focusing on overall equipment effectiveness and operational consistency to unlock existing capacity with minimal facility impacts.

Tim McNeill, Director of Technology, Fluor Industrial Services

Tim is the Director of Technology for Fluor Industrial Services; which includes management of process engineering, facilities integration, mechanical engineering and commissioning and qualification organizations. He brings more than 20 years of manufacturing industry experience on Pharmaceuticals, consumer products, petroleum, land development and aerospace projects. His career responsibilities have included program planning, industrial engineering, commission and validation execution, project management, sales and marketing and organization leadership. Tim’s team works daily to develop technologies to address Pharmaceutical industry needs. They are responsible for Fluor’s facilities optimization program which endeavors to increase output and extend the life of existing facilities. Beyond optimization, the team continues to develop facility designs that address new opportunities for clients to employ single-use processes, intelligent modular designs and lean manufacturing principals.

Jim Humphries, Vice President, Performance Technology, Fluor Corporation

Jim Humphries is responsible for the Performance Technology business at Fluor. In addition to providing consulting, information management, and technical services for new facilities, Jim’s team assists clients with step change performance improvement initiatives at existing facilities.

With over 30 years managing manufacturing and professional services businesses, Jim’s experience is broad. It includes work across a broad range of industry segments, purchasing, materials management, quality, maintenance, engineering, human relations, training, and risk management.
Jim holds multiple patents registered in countries around the globe, is published in leading industry journals and is a frequent conference presenter. Jim earned his Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and his Executive Finance certificate from the Harvard School of Business. He is a licensed professional engineer in South Carolina. He is also a Certified Plant Engineer, a Certified Systems Integrator, a certified Maintenance & Reliability Professional, a Certified Asset Performance Consultant, and a former board member of the Association of Facilities Engineers.