Egemin built a new highly automated production plant for Laboratoria Smeets by refurbishing an existing building and reinstalling a process installation they had purchased. Egemin took on the EPCM role, handling all engineering, procurement, construction, and management of the complex project. They automated processes, improved ergonomics for employees, and added innovations like increased heating capacity and closed circuit solvent regeneration. The new plant allows Laboratoria Smeets to increase competitiveness through improved functionality, documentation, maintenance costs, and process monitoring.

1. Handling Automation
Life Sciences
Process Automation
Infra Automation
Consulting & Services
Leaflet: Labo Smeets
We Deliver.
Egemin builts new production plant
for Laboratoria Smeets
Laboratoria Smeets, located close to Antwerp, is an innovational and ambitious contract
manufacturer and packer of (para)pharmaceutical products, thereby focusing on powders.
To enlarge their product offering, the company bought an existing process installation from a
large pharmaceutical company and integrated the installation into a new and highly automated
production plant. A complicated challenge for which they counted on Egemin Automation.
EPCM approach delivers
Seeing that the project would have quite an impact on the staff and the overall day to day
organization of the company, Laboratoria Smeets decided to work with an EPCM contractor
(taking care of Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Management). Jef Verplaetse,
Managing Director of Laboratoria Smeets: “I felt it was important to limit the pressure on our
internal resources and therefore decided to engage a party that could take care of every aspect
involved. I needed a partner company that I could trust and that was able to manage the entire
project."
Egemin took charge of the entire refurbishment of the building in which the new plant was to be
situated (including HVAC, fire protection, HV and LV electricial installations, plumbing, etc). Next
to that, Egemin moved and reinstalled the process installation, while at the same time increasing
its automation level significantly. The services delivered were:
QQ Basic and detailed engineering
QQ Purchasing
QQ Construction
QQ Automation
QQ Electrical engineering and Instrumentation
QQ Project management
QQ Commissioning

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Challenges
EPCM projects are often complex, high cost and deadline driven. Egemin Automation has the
experience and know how to deal with the challenges involved. A standerdized project approach
allows our teams to keep control of the budget and to deliver on time. Nevertheless, creative
troubleshooting and a hands on mentality are necessary to tackle specific project related
difficulties:
QQ The complexitiy of the new plant was considerably higher than that of the existing Labora-
toria Smeets plants.
QQ Strict validation documentation was required by the client.
QQ The existing building provided a limited space to integrate a large scale process installation.
QQ Egemin and Laboratoria Smeets set up a limited project team to keep decision making
easy and communication lines short.
Deliverables
An existing building was completely refurbished and turned into a brand new state of the art
production plant. Egemin took care of all aspects involved:
QQ Civil construction (skids, walls, ceilings, floor treatment, etc.)
QQ Supply of resources
QQ HV and LV electricity
QQ Water
QQ HVAC
QQ Fire protection measures
QQ Storage and transportation systems
The process installation consists of six large parts:
QQ a storage silo of 100m³ for the (bulk) storage of Polysoy
QQ a weighing unit to dose the exact amount of Polysoy required for the premix production
QQ a reactor to prepare the API solution (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient)
QQ a mixer-dryer to apply the API to the Polysoy and to dry the final product
QQ a solvent regeneration system with cooling equipment
QQ a packaging line for packaging from 1kg up to 25kg
QQ validation documentation
key benefits for the client
Egemin delivers customised solutions according our client's needs. In this project, Egemin increased
the competitiveness of the client by adding value to the functioning of the process installation:
QQ Egemin automated the plant as much as possible and made sure that the employees of Labo-
ratoria Smeets can work under the best ergonomic conditions.
QQ The plant hasn't only been reassembled, Egemin also provided quite a number of innovations
and improvements:
QQ The heating capacity has increased.
QQ Smart engineering allows Laboratoria Smeets to vacumize during the regeneration of the
solvent, and this without the solvent ending up in the vacuum pump.
QQ Entering the production rooms with the solvent isn't necessary because the process takes
place in a closed circuit.
QQ There is an immediate access to the information for batch documentation and traceability
through a central data monitoring system (SCADA).
QQ The maintenance cost is limited and includes preventive measures, such as additional dif-
ferential pressure measurements on the filters, to avoid downtime as much as possible.
QQ It is possible measure and log key process parameters such as the concentration of oxy-
gen/reagents, the doses of liquids and powders.
International Headquarters
Baarbeek 1 BE-2070 Zwijndrecht
T +32 3 641 12 12 F +32 3 641 13 13
info@egemin.com www.egemin.com
Switzerland Office
Sevogelstrasse 59 4132 Muttenz
info@egemin.ch T +41 61 713 00 80
Germany Office
Arsterdamm 110 28277 Bremen
info@egemin.de T + 49 421 436 273
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