Meissner Filtration Products’ new manufacturing facility in Castlebar, Ireland is now up and running.
The new facility, which has been brought online on schedule, has a state of the art 930 m² (10 000 ft²) ISO class 7 cleanroom for the manufacture of single-use systems.
Validation of the facility was completed in mid-April and the plant is currently manufacturing products for its biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical clients.
“While we had envisaged marking this day with a ribbon cutting ceremony to recognize the efforts of all those involved in bringing this new facility online, this is obviously not possible given Covid-19,” said Nigel Cannon, managing director of the new site. “This symbolic day will come, but what is of immediate importance, perhaps now more than ever given the current health crisis, is that Meissner has an additional operational manufacturing facility capable of supplying our clients with products critical to the manufacture of life saving medicines including those directly related to Covid-19.”
Covid-19 also means that Meisner cannot currently welcome visitors to the new manufacturing site.
“While site visits are not yet possible, we have been actively working with our clients to allow them to remotely review the facility operations and validation thereof prior to a physical visit,” said Laura Meissner, executive director of quality at Meissner. “Contemporary technology has allowed us to still move forward in spite of the current restrictions.”
Meissner’s new manufacturing facility is over 3900 m² (42 000 ft²), and future expansion plans will see this increase over the coming years. Initial groundwork for this expansion is set to begin later this year. Meissner anticipated future expansions at the time of purchasing the new Advanced Technology Building from the IDA, the non-commercial, semi-state body promoting foreign direct investment into Ireland, by also buying the adjacent land.
