Parker domnick hunter – a division of the Parker Hannifin Corporation – has invested in a new ISO Class 7 cleanroom at its site at Birtley, UK, from which it will produce single-use manifolds incorporating tubing, bioprocess containers, filters, sensors and other components for use in the bioprocessing industry.
The company designs, supplies and delivers whole systems for both upstream and downstream pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturing and serves clients throughout the world. The UK manufacturing facility further enhances the division’s single-use production capabilities, adding to its manifold production operation in Oxnard, California, US.
The manufacture of manifolds in the UK will enable the company to supply European markets more effectively, making it easier for biopharmaceutical companies to access specialist manifolds and shortening the supply chain, with resulting benefits for production turnaround and operational continuity. It will provide Parker domnick hunter with a more robust manufacturing capacity, based around the capabilities of its dual sites.
The company specialises in the development of custom automated processes, incorporating sensor and control technologies, filtration products and single-use consumables. These single-use solutions help to standardise operations, identify, monitor and control bioprocess variation and ensure product quality and consistency when upscaling from development to manufacturing scale.
As part of its work, Parker domnick hunter has developed configured solutions for the rapid design, testing and manufacturing of single-use assemblies, based around a dynamic and validated design space. Working in a pre-designed and optimised configuration space creates significant time-efficiencies for biopharmaceutical manufacturers, resulting in decreased product lead time, and this streamlining process can enhance performance and quality.
'Biopharmaceutical manufacturers design processing systems which incorporate specific, customised manifolds, so it is important that they are able to be supplied with products rapidly, and have confidence in their own ability to access products when they need them. We believe that by manufacturing manifolds in Birtley we will be giving our customers both greater flexibility and peace of mind,' the firm said.