Distribution Heats Up as Almac Continues its Transition to New North American Headquarters
By Almac Group, PRNETuesday, January 18, 2011
SOUDERTON, Pennsylvania, January 19, 2011 - Almac is making substantial progress in transitioning operations to its
new headquarters in Souderton, PA, especially in the area of distribution.
The new facility has been successfully shipping clinical trial materials
since November, and has recently seen an increase in shipment volumes due to
the added efficiencies the new building provides.
Material packing for trial supply shipments is now performed in Almac's
state-of-the art Pharmacy. Providing nearly 8,000 square feet of space and
situated adjacent to the distribution warehouse, the Pharmacy is designed to
facilitate the picking of clinical distribution orders. Technicians are able
to work more efficiently using industry leading RF scanning devices,
ultimately reducing processing times. Orders are verified and then packed in
custom designed individual Packing Suites. A more streamlined workflow was
the key component when original layout designs were being considered, and has
proven to be a positive addition to the headquarters project.
Scott McCurdy, Distribution Supervisor, commented on the operations in
the new facility by saying, "The Almac Distribution Department successfully
ceased operations in Audubon, transferred client material and relocated staff
over the course of one weekend without affecting shipping timelines. Our new
facility affords Almac Distribution the opportunity to expand and provide new
solutions for the global clinical trial supply chain."
Already cleared as a TSA Certified Cargo Screening Facility, the next
step for the company is to relocate their label generation, controlled
substance packaging, and primary packaging operations. Almac anticipates the
phased transfer, which began in November, to be complete by February 2011
sequentially making both buildings in the headquarters project fully
operational. A copy of the proposed dates of transfer can be viewed by
visiting the NAHQ specific microsite.
The new headquarters houses clinical trial supply and technology services
as well as introducing Almac's analytical services to the U.S. for the first
time. This combination of services optimizes the clinical supply chain by
providing clients with the ability to approve multiple activities at one
site, in one visit. In addition, the new building offers a huge expansion in
capacity for the storage of trial materials, especially refrigerated storage,
where pallet space has increased by 5 times to accommodate a growing demand
amongst pharma and biotech companies.
Clients are invited to take a tour of the facility or request a meeting
to further discover how the new features will benefit them and their
organization. For more information on the recent happenings at Almac's new
NAHQ, please visit www.findpharmony.com.
Almac has taken care to keep clients fully informed regarding transition
times using direct mailings, email, and information updates on the NAHQ
specific website as well as personally meeting with clients to discuss
upcoming plans.
About Almac Group:
The Almac Group offers a broad range of services from R&D, biomarker
discovery and development, API manufacture, formulation development, clinical
trial supply and IXRS technology (IVRS/IWRS), to commercial-scale
manufacture. Almac provides services to more than 600 companies, including
all the world leaders in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors.
The company is headquartered in Craigavon, Northern Ireland. US
operations are based in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and California. For more
information about the Almac Group, please visit www.almacgroup.com or
contact Alex Heeley, +44(0)27-861-3043, e-mail info@almacgroup.com
For more information about the Almac Group, please contact Alex Heeley, +44(0)27-861-3043, e-mail info at almacgroup.com
Tags: Almac Group, ireland, January 19, Pennsylvania, Souderton