In December 2010, WSP’s Swedish office was approached by McNeil AB, a subsidiary of global pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson specializing in OTC products and the only production site for smoking cessation products, to bid for a concept strategy for a ten-year capital investment plan for its site in Helsingborg, Sweden.
The McNeil plant is a very complex site, with multiple levels over multiple buildings. McNeil AB sought to optimize the flow of materials and people through the buildings, and develop a credible concept design and capital investment plan.
Our client wanted the strategy completed over an eight-week period, rather than the 12-14 weeks it would normally take.
A Strategy to Overcome Complexity
McNeil AB needed a team that could be coordinated quickly, that had experience in the pharmaceutical industry and in their particular area, and that also had good experience of the Swedish construction market to provide cost estimates.
The WSP team included UK engineers from WSP CEL (an industrial engineering business that is now part of WSP) and engineers from three different Swedish offices, between them bringing many years of experience of working within the pharmaceutical industry.
To enable the client to visualize the strategy, WSP proposed the use of BIM and Revit 3D to develop a unique 5D model incorporating scope, schedule and cost. This provided the client with real-time walk-throughs and an ideal presentation tool to use with senior management to demonstrate clearly how the expansion program would develop over time.
“Together we delivered exactly what the customer wanted, clarifying the future possibilities for the site in Helsingborg. With our knowledge and experience of this kind of customer, our collaboration with WSP CEL was a great success and a start for a new way of working within WSP.” - Patrik Holmquist, Department Head, WSP Systems, Sweden
During WSP’s customer feedback process, the concept study received a positive feedback score of 100 percent. The successful completion of the concept strategy led to an invitation to prequalify for a global services agreement for Johnson & Johnson, the client’s parent company.
