Novo Nordisk API Manufacturing Facility

Client: Novo Nordisk

Location: Clayton, NC, U.S.

Map showing the location of Novo Nordisk API Manufacturing Facility

Executive Summary

Fluor was awarded an engineering, procurement, construction and construction management contract by Novo Nordisk for its new Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) manufacturing facility in Clayton, North Carolina. We had previously provided basic design services for this project.

The facility would produce pharmaceutical ingredients for diabetes medicines, providing modern treatment to people with diabetes in the U.S. and around the world. The world-class facility would be the single largest life sciences facility investment in North Carolina's history, as well as Novo Nordisk's largest project. Nearly 2,500 craft employees and subcontractor jobs were expected at peak construction, with about 700 jobs expected at the facility upon completion.

Client's Challenge

Novo Nordisk is a global healthcare company with more than 90 years of innovation and leadership in diabetes care, as well as care for other serious chronic conditions including hemophilia, growth disorders and obesity. Novo Nordisk is headquartered in Denmark and employs approximately 42,000 people in 77 countries. The company markets its products in more than 165 countries.

The new facility in Clayton, North Carolina was to be located adjacent to Novo Nordisk's existing fill/finish facility there. The new facility would produce active pharmaceutical ingredients for a range of Novo Nordisk's current and future GLP-1 and already marketed intermediates. Process activities would include fermentation, recovery and purification.

Source: www.novonordisk.com

Fluor's Solution

We provided engineering, procurement, construction and construction management and commissioning and pre-qualification for Novo Nordisk's API manufacturing facility in North Carolina.

The new facility measures 800,000 square feet and has a footprint of 85 acres, the equivalent of approximately seven football fields. The greenfield facility includes a Central Utilities Building (CUB), offices and labs, a warehouse and three manufacturing plants.

Our Greenville, South Carolina office led the project with support from our office in Gliwice, Poland. The project team employed Fluor Site Connect℠, our construction automation tool used on mobile devices in the field to expedite project workflow and external industry partners to advance a paperless execution approach.

A ceremonial groundbreaking marked the beginning of construction activities in March 2016. In June 2019, the North Carolina Department of Labor recognized the project team for achieving three million work hours without a lost-time incident.