The site unveiling ceremony of the large-scale facility celebrated the project team and the program’s strong health and safety record. At the time of the event, the team had worked more than 3.5 million hours without a lost-time incident — notable for a project of such size and scale. The North Carolina Department of Labor also praised Jacobs’ proactive safety stance.
Jacobs CEO Bob Pragada gave remarks at the event to more than 2,500 employees, contractors, and skilled-trade workers. “Today has left me inspired and optimistic for the future,” Pragada said. “Delivering the largest facility of its kind in North America on schedule, safely, and sustainably is a remarkable undertaking. ... Our partnership of trust has made this progress possible, and their work and the medicines that will be made here will have an incredible impact.”
As engineering, procurement, and construction management partner on the program, Jacobs designed and is managing construction of two large-scale manufacturing suites fitted with 4 x 20,000 L bioreactors each. Implementing modular design practices from other facilities in FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies’ global portfolio and intelligent AI progress tracking tools during the construction and planning phases has allowed the team to speed up construction and replicate building and equipment design across each manufacturing suite building on the Holly Springs site.
The site will provide drug substance manufacturing, automated fill-finish and assembly, packaging, and labeling services for global biopharmaceutical customers. With future growth in mind, the nearly 1,000,000-square-foot manufacturing site is being built with the flexibility to expand with additional 24 x 20,000 L bioreactors to accommodate new projects to meet the emerging needs of partners. This site will also create 725 manufacturing jobs in North Carolina by the end of 2028.
