“Single-Company” Mentality, Trust Provide Foundation for Successful Completion of Biogen Idec’s New Manufacturing Campus

No excuses. Building trust and collaboration among team members. Follow-through. A unique modularization approach to process systems. Zero Defects. Those were just some of the fundamentals followed by the design, engineering and construction team to achieve a high level of success on the six-building, 500,000-sq.-ft. New Biogen Idec Manufacturing Operations (NIMO) campus project in Oceanside, CA, for Biogen Idec, Inc., the third largest biotech company in the world.

Constructed in 2.5 years with 2.9 million hours and at a capital cost of $380 million, the NIMO project was delivered late last year on time and under budget, setting new standards not only in biotech process design and automation but also in the way the entire team worked together to create this world-class facility. The team included owner Biogen Idec, Inc., Clark, Richardson & Biskup Consulting Engineers, Inc. (CRB), architect McGraw/Baldwin Architects (MBA), and general contractor DPR Construction, Inc.

The initial “journey” began in fall of 2000, when a then–small San Diego biotech company, formerly called IDEC Pharmaceuticals Corporation and now called Biogen Idec, Inc. following a merger in November 2003, decided to build its first large-scale biotech manufacturing facility on 60 acres in Oceanside, CA, near its San Diego headquarters. IDEC spent several months planning and engineering a facility that would fit its capital budget and then selected DPR as general contractor for the job in September 2001.

It was about the same time, when IDEC decided to change course from the traditional design-bid-build approach to utilize a “hybrid design/build” method. This hybrid method included executing civil, architectural and structural work as design-bid-build, while mechanical, electrical, process, and instrumentation and controls were completed design/build. DPR was responsible for oversight of the project design and the procurement of all process and modular equipment in addition to construction. The team of IDEC, MBA and DPR collectively searched for and selected an engineering company, CRB, which oversaw all engineering performed by the design/builders in the mechanical, electrical, process, and instrumentation and controls engineering disciplines. The hybrid approach also allowed for quick resolution of a host of issues, from an early site lighting design matter to devising solutions to make up lost time getting out of the ground due to record rainfall.

“No excuses” also was a key theme throughout the project. From the outset, the NIMO team understood what would be needed to successfully deliver this complex job within the tight 30-month schedule. The team continuously proved its ability to take challenges head on. Just six months before scheduled completion, for example, the team was faced with incorporating manufacturing process changes worth an additional $17 million and pulled together to ensure that every milestone was still met.

No Barriers

Given the project’s technical complexity and schedule, the owner realized early on that open access and communication would be critical. As a result, IDEC leased a 20,000-sq.-ft. office in Carlsbad, CA, eight miles from the site, where it housed up to 120 key team members at peak times.

This approach removed traditional “walls” between companies and fostered a “single company” mentality. Still, merging four different companies with distinct corporate cultures and systems was not without challenges. The diverse mix of talent was the project’s greatest asset and also its “Achilles’ heel.” The team hired a professional team builder, who helped formulate one vision and value system for the team and kept everyone focused on the same goal.

Regular team meetings also brought issues to the table for quick resolution, and trust among team members grew. A project board of directors also was formed with the leaders of IDEC, CRB, MBA and DPR. Housing the team together allowed everyone to comment, budget, approve and resolve design-development issues as they occurred, in real time.

The collaboration continued as the team moved to the “NIMO Trailer City” on site. “The execution planning began under one roof and transitioned to our field offices. Every individual made a difference, brought a special skill set and had a unique role. We promoted innovation and creativity,” said DPR’s Paul Panelli. “It became all about what was the ‘right thing’ to do and not ‘who was responsible.’ The normal separation between companies, the office and the field became blurred. Nobody allowed anyone else to fail.”

Project Execution & Innovation

While failure was not an option, the project was rife with technical and logistical challenges. The scope alone was huge: The NIMO facility has 18 to 24 times the production capacity of IDEC’s original facility and used as much structural steel as the Eiffel Tower (some 320 flatbed truckloads), and within the six buildings, there were some 21 miles of plumbing piping, 10 miles of HVAC piping, 100 miles of conduit and 300 miles of wire and cable, along with major power and backup power systems.

To make the project more manageable, the team broke it down into six separate jobs, each managed by a “building area team” (BAT). Each BAT established core values and identified their own critical success factors, which served as roadmaps to keep them on track. Engineering and construction disciplines, ranging across all the buildings, were managed by “cross area support teams.”

One unique project feature was that more than 70 percent of the process systems were designed to be modularized, creating a huge schedule savings. By pre-fabricating the modules and having them tested in factories prior to installation, the number of technical issues onsite was tremendously reduced. The use of modules also allowed process work to proceed on an accelerated parallel path from building construction, significantly reducing trade stacking and fast-tracking the construction/validation schedule.

The final product exceeded the owner’s expectations, according to Johannes Roebers, senior director engineering, project director for Biogen Idec. “We commend the DPR NIMO construction team for their efforts in securing the Manufacturing Building Certificate of Occupancy ahead of schedule and achieving substantial completion of the entire project in December 2004. These milestone achievements speak to the tremendous focus and dedication exhibited by the DPR team in fulfilling the difficult schedule commitments for this strategically important and very complex project.”