February 14, 2024 • 44 mins
- Unpacks insights from ISPE Facilities of the Future Conference
- Focuses on sustainability and digital evolution in pharma
- Next-gen facilities are efficient and eco-friendly
- Shift to interconnected data systems revolutionizes research
- Tools like Benchling streamline data and asset management
- Networking fosters collaboration and innovation
- Personal anecdotes highlight importance of authentic interactions
- Emphasizes connections shaping industry's future
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Oscar Gonzalez (00:01):
Welcome back to another episode of Lean by
Design Podcast.
I'm your host, Oscar Gonzalez,alongside here with my cohost
Lawrence Wong.
Today we are going to give youa recap of the recent ISPE
Facilities of the FutureConference.
We're going to look intosustainability and how that
becomes a critical component inyour facility design and
(00:24):
operations.
Understand that the digitaltransformation that's happening
now is redefining roles as moretools are developed to manage
these integrated systems.
We're going to chat a littlebit about networking, where you
can have fun, especially whenyou're showing genuine interest
in other people.
Lawrence, welcome back toBoston area.
How was the conference?
(00:45):
How did everything go it?
Lawrence Wong (00:47):
was good.
I think all of my jet lag hasfinally left my body.
I was in San Francisco, I flewin on Friday night and then I
took a red eye on Tuesday night,which I think next time I'm
going to fly on Wednesdaymorning.
Oscar Gonzalez (01:02):
Yeah, yeah, I get home Wednesday night.
Lawrence Wong (01:06):
It was good, though the conference itself was
, I would say, a little over oneand a half days, and it was in
the Hilton unions in SanFrancisco.
It's like Mac in the middle ofdowntown.
I'm not too familiar with allthe neighborhoods, but that's
where I saw it essentiallylocated.
For those people that aren'tfamiliar with ISPE, it stands
(01:32):
for International Society ofPharmaceutical Engineering.
I don't want to butcher theirmixing statements.
I'm going to read it directlyfrom their website, please.
They claim themselves as theglobal industry leader in
connecting pharma knowledge todeliver manufacturing and supply
chain innovation, operationalexcellence and regulatory
(01:52):
insights to enhance industryefforts to develop, manufacture
and reliably deliver qualitymedicines to patients.
They have a lot of chaptersacross the world and they host
great events, either thenetworking or the conferences.
They have online seminars, butessentially what they're doing
(02:12):
is they're connecting industryprofessionals with the sequence
of knowledge and new friendsthat are going on in the
industry.
The facilities of the futureconference specifically focus on
innovative next generationfacilities and related products
and services supporting thesefacilities.
(02:33):
A huge reason why I picked myinterest was to learn about what
was going on with these newfacilities.
The other part is understandinghow those will impact asset
models going on in the future.
Oscar Gonzalez (02:49):
Amazing.
I was very interested inunderstanding what I'm not
familiar with, the facilitiesand the manufacturing as you are
.
When you heard facilities ofthe future, I mean you tend to
think of a lot of robots or alot of automations, probably
(03:16):
less people within the actualfacility.
Is that a theme that we'regoing at of just how do we
develop and how do we advanceour technology to meet the
demand?
Lawrence Wong (03:31):
Yeah, I think there's a couple of different
factors that I would look at.
When you especially becauseyou're on the R&D space in drug
discovery, that's like a veryearly stages of drug development
versus on the manufacturingside, which is usually the scale
is much larger and you'repretty close to commercial at
that point.
Or maybe you're trying to getinto the clinic but you need to
(03:53):
mass produce the quantity ofdrug supplements.
There's a lot of drivers likewho's that are going on the lab
are actually impacting how thesefacilities of the future are
being designed.
So if your processes are muchsmaller going on the lab and the
(04:13):
technology is available for youto scale up in a way that
you're using let's say, smallerbioreactors, or there are
specific processes that use someof these more modular pieces of
instrumentation or equipmentthat is 100 percent going to
dictate the footprint of themanufacturing process.
(04:36):
So that's one thing I think theother thing is to think about.
You've heard a lot aboutsustainability, not just in the
pharmaceutical industry, butother industries that have large
manufacturing footprint.
So there's a lot of oil and gasis probably up there.
You think of the tech industry,any industry where you're
(04:59):
manufacturing a large number ofgoods.
There's a lot of goals aroundbeing more sustainable,
improving the impacts that weare having on the environment,
decreasing the amount of toxinsand all that better contributing
to global warming and climatechange.
Oscar Gonzalez (05:17):
That's huge.
I'm aware that in the area thatwe're in the Boston Greater
Boston area that has it's reallya science hub.
There's regulations andmultiple surrounding towns on
emissions from buildings,manufacturing facilities.
What was this look ofsustainability?
(05:42):
Is it something that's a pipedream?
Or is this something that thetechnology is taking us in our
direction to allow for us tocontinue these super complex
processes while decreasingcarbon footprint, etc?
How does that look?
Lawrence Wong (06:00):
Yeah, so there's a loaded question.
I'm going to look at it fromthe lens of one the government
regulations.
So these are the non-aggressibleterms that a lot of these
companies are going to have toalign with.
So, whether it's local orinternational levels of pushing
(06:21):
out these stricter environmentallaws, these companies have to
incorporate more of thesesustainable practices into their
facility designs to avoidpenalty fines, reputational
damage.
So you're hearing a lot aboutokay, well, how are we going to
get to net zero?
How are we going to reduce ourcarbon footprint?
You have these 2030, 2045, 2050goals and everybody is trying
(06:44):
to reduce their load on theenvironment based on some of
these regulations that arecoming out.
I think another really criticalaspect of this is outside from
just the government.
I think there's a lot of, Iwould say, brand reputation and
even from the employee lookingat companies.
(07:05):
They don't want to work for acompany that's just viewing
toxins and the earth and makingit work.
When somebody put it reallywell at the conference saying
that if we truly care about thehealth of the patients, we care
about the health of the earth.
So stakeholders are reallyacidifying these environmental,
social and government goals sothat these companies are
(07:28):
improving their footprint andtheir policies around how they
manage these facilities acrossthe network to adhere to those
things.
So if you were designingfacilities in that way, you're
going to attract the righttalent and investors going to
look at that as a positiveimpact.
Then I would be remiss to notmention the ultimate cost
(07:50):
savings.
So if you are managing thesebuildings in a more energy
efficient way, you're going tobe reducing your utility bills.
You're going to reduce theamount of waste that you're
producing from the actualoperation.
That all is going to be takingoff a load on your or increasing
your bottom line because ofthose expenses that you incur as
(08:12):
you operate the facility.
Oscar Gonzalez (08:16):
So I'm curious what kind of utility bills are
we looking at?
Because I just got my recentpropane bill and that one made
me choke a little bit on my ownair, but I'm sure that it's not
to the level of a manufacturingfacility.
I mean, are we talking in themillions over the course of like
(08:37):
a single year?
Lawrence Wong (08:40):
I think it's hard to tell it's based on.
It depends on where you are,and I don't want to speak for
other.
I think they're all the wrong.
I don't know what the naturalgas pricing is, but I'll use
that as an example.
So obviously we have thisconflict out in Europe right now
with Ukraine and Russia, andthat impacted a lot of, I would
(09:01):
say, commodities that are soldand used across the world.
Right, so natural gas, right.
If you're relying on that as animport to support some of the,
let's say, you have a boilerthat is natural gas and you're
using that to heat up thefacility and stuff as expenses
of that commodity rise, youroperating costs are going to
(09:23):
rise.
So it's in your benefit to kindof be more self-sufficient and
be more energy efficient so thatyou reduce the impact of that
supply chain.
And so people are using thingslike solar panels or wind energy
or any renewable source ofenergy to operate their
(09:44):
facilities, and people aregetting very, very creative.
From what I've seen, one of thereally good examples is this
company out in CaliforniaAllogen Therapeutics.
They opened up a CAR-T facilitya couple years ago.
So this was I didn't believe itwas a complete pandemic, and
it's a great example of how afacility is designed to be
(10:06):
environmentally sustainable and100% powered by renewable
electricity.
So, one of the reallyinteresting design aspects that
they have is they have a roofentirely covered with solar
panels and they have anagreement with a service
provider to have a fixed priceon electricity.
So, being in California, plentyof sunlight, so you're able to
(10:29):
extract that energy and store itin batteries within believe
it's within the building andthey're using it to support a
lot of their operations, whichis you know that's.
We've never seen something likethat, obviously here on the
East Coast, because of weatherconditions, but there are other,
you know.
Just because you are inCalifornia, obviously it's
(10:52):
easier in some sense to design afacility like that but that
doesn't mean that just becauseyou're on the East Coast and
you're in the Northeast, you'renot subject to that kind of
philosophy, right?
So you do have to get reallycreative from the engineering
standpoint and then reallyworking with some of the utility
companies in the area to comeup with a design that is
(11:14):
adhering to some of thesesustainability goals.
Oscar Gonzalez (11:18):
That's great, you know.
I love the point that you maderelated to what people employees
are actually looking for whenthey find, you know, a new place
to work, a new employer thatyou can see now in the offices
there's, you know there'scompost bins, there's recycle
bins.
There's, you know, refuse bins,really trying to separate, and
(11:41):
you know lend toward this.
You know sustainability, youknow the.
You know exchanging bottledwater for the filtered.
You know systems that you canput your own bottle into.
You know that's become veryprevalent, automatic.
You know dispensers for, youknow, for hand sanitizer, all
(12:02):
these little things that they'vebeen sort of adding into the
workplace that you know can help, you know, create that
sustainability and decrease thatcarbon footprint.
It's super important.
I want to go into thisconversation of digital
transformation.
(12:22):
So when you're looking atdigital transformation and
you're talking about the newtools you know that are being
developed, are those beingdriven from?
You mentioned before that thechanges in the lab or what's
affecting the facilities.
How much does that have to playinto the digital footprint that
is, you know, needing toadvance?
(12:43):
How simple or how difficultdoes that become for larger
facilities in manufacturing?
Lawrence Wong (12:50):
Yeah, so, if you're looking at a standpoint
of the lab spaces, there's a lotof very super high tech
instrumentation, right?
And so I think one of thebottlenecks or inefficiencies
that are on the lab side is thatall of these very specialized
(13:11):
pieces of instrumentation, theyall generate a wealth of data
that you need to support yourtimelines, your projects, all
this stuff, right.
And so I think, historically, alot of these systems have been
siloed, unfortunately, and soyou have to do one work in one
system.
Then somebody's got to connectthe data and feed it to
(13:31):
somewhere else, or, you know,you go around with the USB stick
, or however you manage that.
I think nowadays you have a lotof these companies that are
able to connect these differentsources of information.
So one good example, I believea company is Ben's Point, where
they're able to connect this labnotebook and you have all these
(13:51):
instruments.
Maybe you're taking certainpieces of data to kind of
compile into this database.
That's much easier to digest,in some senses, for scientists,
right?
And so I'm going to go back tothe other end of it and look at
it from a manufacturingstandpoint.
A lot of the equipment that islocated in these facilities,
(14:14):
they also are generatingenormous pieces of information
that you need to consider foryour process or your equipment
health or your manufacturingexecution system, what certain
things need to adhere to aspecific recipe.
Right?
All the pieces of data arefeeding into this pool of
(14:38):
information that you need to use, right?
And so I think when I think ofdigital transformation, it used
to mean you're takinginformation from one piece of
equipment and instrument andthen feeding it somewhere else.
But from what I gathered fromthis conference, it's less so
about that, but it's more abouthow are you connecting all of
these pieces of information andusing it right?
(14:59):
So it's not just you're usingthis HPLC here, but how is it
connected to this bi-reactor?
And then how is thatinformation connecting all the
way back to your manufacturingnetwork and how do you make
sense of that data?
Right?
So maybe you have one specificprocess change.
Well, what does that reallylook like down the line for a
large-scale operation?
Well, that's kind of what Ilook at for digital
(15:22):
transformation.
It's the technology.
When you consider the equipmentand instruments we have now,
that's something that's alreadyconnected.
It's just being able tointegrate that and make sense of
what those models look likewhen you're assessing process
performance.
Oscar Gonzalez (15:39):
So Everything's become so complex now because
we're discovering new ways to doscience.
So previously, where these twopieces of equipment probably
didn't even exist in the samefacility, they're now supporting
one another.
And so I've seen thesechallenges that you're talking
(16:00):
about.
I've seen them in a number ofR&D spaces where, well and let's
not even get into the challengeof integrating vendor-produced
data, the data that's notproduced in your system that
they have their own parameters,that they have their own output
(16:20):
system that usually comes in theway of an Excel file.
So even on that front, there isquite a bit of space in there
that would allow for digitaltransformation.
For how can you connect all ofthese different aspects of your
(16:40):
asset, different characteristicsof your asset?
How do you get that data in totalk to each other without
having this arduous process ofmanipulation on top of
manipulation on top ofmanipulation?
So it's a challenge.
That Benchling that examplethat you gave, is a really great
(17:03):
system that's really trying tocapture that market and it does
help for a lot of spaces.
There's still some challengesout there that I think are left
to be solved.
So how, in the facilities, isthere anything that's similar to
(17:24):
Benchling, that takes all ofthe data, from your asset, from
that pipeline, from that process, to craft a vision of how well
your process is performing.
Lawrence Wong (17:43):
So I'm not aware of a single solution or product
that encompasses all of thoseaspects, just because a lot of
these different products are allfrom different companies.
So I'll try to paint thepicture of what that looks like.
So, if you're in amanufacturing setting and say
(18:03):
you use an Emerson product,maybe like a Delta V, which is
your process control system thatis managing all the different
pieces of equipment that youhave in your manufacturing
process, so it'll help youcontrol and monitor the
equipment in one interface andso you can run recipes and
(18:25):
batches through that.
Another system that is notdirectly connected to that is
your maintenance system.
So these are all the serviceevents that are happening to
your equipment and it's notnecessarily in, let's say, a
process control system, becauseyou're using one for
(18:46):
manufacturing operations butyou're using another one for
maintenance operations.
And then I'll bring it evenfurther is that you have these
other platforms that areavailable for assessing the
equipment health.
So one example is your, let'ssay, you have a pump and you
want to measure the vibration ofthat specific pump.
(19:08):
Well, that vibration data isnot in either of those systems,
and so what you're having to dois take all three of those
things and try to paint thestory of what is going on with
this particular pump in thisfacility.
Wow, there are new facilitiesthat are getting really creative
on how to combine those piecesof information.
Because, let's say, you have asingle graphic, right, and it
(19:32):
shows you this particular pumpis run for this recipe and
you're able to see the processperformance.
But then at the other end of it, you want to be able to see
okay, looks like somebody didsomething to the pump for repair
.
We want to make sure that thatperformance has improved or
sustained coming out of thatevent.
And so that's when yourvibration data is going to be
(19:54):
very useful, because you want tobe able to see what's your
current performance against yourbaseline and then be able to
publish it that way.
So that's like one very goodexample of how you be able to
connect all those three.
And so when I think of you knowwhat does this mean for asset
management overall, for thefuture?
Well, you can make way betterdecisions, right?
(20:15):
I'm no longer going up to apump and going, oh, I wonder
what it's running today.
And then, okay, well, whathappened to it last week in the
maintenance event?
And then did someone measurethe vibration, you see how these
questions all become onequestion.
And the question is okay, whatis the performance trend going?
And then you have just onegraphic that shows you all those
(20:35):
three things.
And another part of it is youroperational efficiency right, so
the time that you have fromswitching over from one system
to the other, you're able toidentify these trends and
patterns and identify potentialequipment failures before they
occur.
You can optimize yourproduction schedule and then
reduce any unplanned downtimefor operations.
(20:57):
And then the I would sayanother part of it is really
your risk management compliance.
So digital transformationprovides a more advanced tool
set for you to monitor yourassets and, by default, that
could eventually lead to lesssafety incidents, environmental
harm or noncompliance, if you'reable to.
(21:21):
Another source of data right,let's say, the fourth piece of
data is that you want to seesafety incidents.
Well, let's layer that on topof the how you're doing in your
process, how you're doing inyour maintenance system, how
you're doing on the equipmenthealth piece, and then the
safety incident part, and nowyou can go wow, it looks like we
were running the pump reallyhigh and we did some sort of a
maintenance event, and thevibration is kind of wacky and
(21:43):
we had a safety event and nowyou can give a better picture of
what's going on in the plantrather than, like all that,
different sources of informationand people are.
You're relying on somebody tomake those connections right
with those four differentsystems.
But if you add them all in one,you know those conversations
are very different.
Oscar Gonzalez (22:03):
Right, and it definitely you know.
The example that you'reproviding gives me a line of
sight into you know.
Now you're able to sort ofcreate these maps that are
delivering closer I won't sayexactly the cause to whatever
challenge, but at least a closerstep into those challenges.
(22:24):
Rather than you know, we can'tunderstand why this happened and
having no data to support whathappened prior to a fix, what it
looks like after the fix andwhat, how other systems may have
been affected in that, so Icould definitely see the
importance and the criticalitybehind having that level of
(22:45):
visibility and alsounderstanding.
I think it does take a specialkind of crazy mindset to be able
to look at this entire facilityand understand what may affect
another piece of equipment andvice versa.
Lawrence Wong (23:04):
So yeah, I'll say .
Another thing is that you know,one really good example that I
saw during the presentation waswith a company called Wheeler
Bio and they have a processdevelopment lab and which is a
mile down the road from theirsmall scale GMP manufacturing
facility in Oklahoma City, andthey've not only been able to
(23:28):
bridge the gap between drugdevelopment to IND filing but,
like when you look at theirfacility and they're able to
connect these different systems.
It redefined what it means to bea scientist in that process
development lab but, also anengineer on their facility,
right, because you need to beable to incorporate all these
different sources of information.
(23:49):
And that's what I mean by thisintegration with these different
systems is that it's reallyredefining everybody's role,
because now you have thesedifferent tools that are more
advanced.
I think one of the things thatwe were talking before we hit
record with SmartSoup right, andhow that single tool is
(24:11):
redefining what it means to be aproject manager, because you
have all these different toolsthat you can use.
Your job is no longer managingone project.
Every project manager should bemanaging multiple things at
once, and it's just allowingthese tools for you to be.
You know, when you used to beable to do the work of one
person, you're able to do thework of 10 people because some
(24:33):
of these tools and that's kindof how I'm seeing these new
tools being integrated in theseroles.
Oscar Gonzalez (24:40):
You hit the nail on the head.
I mean, as these you know, lookat the state of the industry
right now, where there's, youknow, yes, at the same time that
there are layoffs, there aremergers and acquisitions, and
they're integrating newcompanies, new technologies, and
in those partnering companiesthat are providing the project
(25:04):
management, they're not in aspace that they can just manage
one project.
These are, you know, whatyou're finding is a big company,
a large, a large, you know,fortune 500 company, finding
these smaller entities that havea niche that they want to scoop
up.
But that's their technology.
(25:25):
They have projects, but guesswhat happens?
Everybody is knocking on thatdoor.
So how do you manage all ofthose projects with a workforce
that's like this?
You know that's small becauseyou have to stay lean in the
beginning, otherwise you run outof cash before you can actually
develop anything.
So how do you actually do that?
And this is where you know thatdigital integration is so
(25:48):
critical and you know that's afantastic example and I
appreciate you sharing thatexample of the Wheeler bio
really interesting and reallyinspiring to see that type of
integration.
So I want to get back to the ISPconference.
(26:11):
How is the networking?
We go to conferences.
We want to network, we want tomeet people.
But let's be honest, sometimesit's a little awkward when you
see little clusters of peopleand you're kind of like double
Dutch.
You're like, do I jump in?
Do I stay back?
Do I walk in with a fakechuckle?
(26:31):
That's a great one, you know.
So how was the networking atSBE?
Lawrence Wong (26:37):
Yeah, so I would say so.
This conference was around, say, around 600 people, which is, I
would say, generally on thesmaller end of what a conference
is.
You'll have thousands, or, youknow, even greater than that.
One thing I appreciated was,you know, the exhibit hall
(26:58):
wasn't the largest, so peoplewere kind of already crammed in.
But outside the exhibit hallthere were these little tabletop
, high table right.
So they I think theyintentionally made it so that
there were no seats, so that youcan sit around and be around
the table, and so people were ontheir feet, they had to move
(27:19):
around, and this was one of thethings.
You know, during lunch, rightwhen you get your food, there
are no seats.
Well, you could go off into the, you know one of these empty
conference rooms and probablysit there and eat by yourself,
but what they wanted you to dowas, you know, just squat.
Oscar Gonzalez (27:36):
Hey, you mind if I sit and eat here with you or
stand here with you.
Lawrence Wong (27:39):
Yeah, just stand here with you and that's.
The tables were large enoughfor you.
It was just so that you couldhave like four people, four or
five people, and that's like theideal kind of group that you
want to have, so that you canactually hear people talk and
kind of have everybody you knowtake their turn and talk about
different topics.
So I really appreciated theformat and the layout of the
(27:59):
conference itself and I'll justyou know, for networking for me
typically is a lot of theselarge events you want to be able
to Insert yourself in certainconversations that you feel
welcome in, right, and I thinkit you have a lot of nerves when
you're going into it becauseyou're like I don't know this
(28:21):
person weird or it could be anormal thing, and you run
through these lines.
I think one of the things thatreally helped me was when you
look around, you find one personby themselves and you just
introduce yourself and I try tomake every conversation with
both work and non work topics.
(28:42):
Just because You're there fortwo days if everybody is talking
about work and it's just yeah,five relief when you're not
talking about that, becauseEverybody is human, right, we
all have lines outside of workand that life is just
interesting and your work likeso, you know, for me I want to
hear about.
(29:02):
You know how did you get intothe industry?
You know why did you come tothe conference?
You know what?
What do you think was the mostinteresting?
What are your hobbies?
Asking questions to Bring outmore of the human side, of not
just your title or your company.
Right, I was very honest aboutthe point in my career.
(29:23):
I asked a lot of people aboutwhat I like to do the business
and everybody goes.
Is it scary?
You know, how did you know whento jump like all these
questions and when you arevulnerable and you are telling
them just straight from what youthink in your mind.
I think it's kind of like yousaid, right, you are trying to
(29:45):
letting down your hair or youknow, you're just being more
open about yourself and it'smuch easier to talk that way.
I would Honestly be incrediblybored and I would just be very
not interested in conversationswhere somebody is just
Constantly taking you about.
Hey, here's my new product.
There is money service.
It's like what about you?
(30:07):
But what, like?
What are you with what?
What is the?
You know the human side of allthis from from that conversation
and, yeah, I thought it wasreally good.
I met a ton of different peoplethat, strangely enough, nobody
that I met did the same thing asanybody else I met.
So like Wow, these are verylike niche roles that everybody
(30:30):
has and I was like, well,there's there's definitely room
for all this because of howlarge the industry is and how
complicated things can get.
So that's that's kind of mythoughts on networking at the
event.
Oscar Gonzalez (30:44):
I mean it sounds like there are many facets, you
know, far beyond what weinitially imagined, with
Facilities and asset management.
You know the and, for thelisteners out there, lawrence
will be doing a masterclass onnetworking, but those are all.
Those are all like super validpoints.
(31:05):
I think the difference you'reseeing a stark difference
between Real networking andbusiness development.
We can't go into these spacesand say I'm gonna talk to people
that Maybe I could work forthem later or they could work
for me, or maybe they would be afuture client.
We have to sort of, you know,build these personas and you
(31:27):
hear about it all the time.
When you're dealing with withmultiple vendors as they talk
about, how much of arelationship do you have with
that, with that vendor or theirrepresentative, or you know how
quickly do they respond like.
All of these things Come intoplay when you start to consider
who you want to work with andyou know the.
(31:49):
The idea of networking is justthat it's expanding your network
.
You may not need anything fromthem now or even in the near
future, but you're developingnot only just your connections
but you're also developing aknowledge base.
As you mentioned, you met a lotof people that don't even that,
didn't even do the same thing.
(32:09):
But now you have this, this,you know, roll a dex from the
ISP conference.
It says these are very specificthings.
If I ever come into this space,I can reach out and have a
conversation and as some reallypointing questions, you know, I
think that that's a Fantasticway to look at networking, to
(32:30):
say how can I Meet more peoplethat think like we do, that, you
know, are similar mindset, thathave different perspectives and
different backgrounds, that wecould, you know, riff, you know,
back and forth on somechallenge or problem, you know,
either now or in the future, and, you know, establish those
(32:51):
relationships.
Because I think, especially inthis industry and you know, I'm
sure, many others that you knownetworking is such a A large
part of how we're able todevelop these partnerships and
and develop these initialconversations, for Bringing
(33:13):
together two technologies todevelop something that may fit
an unmet need that exists.
This is the super criticalcomponents with with networking.
So I'm excited that you hadthat experience.
Lawrence Wong (33:29):
Yeah, I'll say one more thing about you know
you mentioned meaningfulconnections and you know, for
the line of work that we'redoing in consulting, obviously
you know one of the mostimportant things is being able
to find projects that Fit ourexpertise, but I think another
huge component of it is workingwith people that are like minded
(33:50):
that we trust and respect.
Right, and how do you buildthat trust and respect?
Well, we got to talk about work, but we're I also want to know
what about outside of work, likewe know how, what, what are
those?
What are the experiences thatyou have that Let me know and
let the other person know that.
Okay, yeah, this person you knowhas gone, has done these things
or has gone through thesethings in their life and and now
(34:13):
that that meaningfulrelationship and conversations
become something else, right, Imean, I can tell you a lot of
the people that I met.
I honestly don't even rememberwhat company they work for.
I just remember their firstname and then the conversation
that we had.
I, there was one person whothat's great name, drop his name
(34:34):
Carlos and he worked for SnyderElectric and we had talked to
me before about some of thestuff that he's doing on the
building building managementsystem side.
So what that company does isthey have this platform that
allows you to manage utilitiesin the building so you're able
to see, like, how the equipmentis doing, but also alarms and
(34:54):
all that jazz.
So we have very technicalconversations about Forecasting
performance and looking atequipment health and how the
analytics kind of play into thefacilities of the future.
Awesome, I found him the nextday and we didn't have a single
conversation about work, it wasmore about.
Oscar Gonzalez (35:12):
Hey, are you looking for the?
Lawrence Wong (35:14):
area, like where do you live and and how is it,
like you know, living here withyour, with your family?
And Then we had a conversationabout flyfishing and I was like
that's awesome and like, wow, doyour kids do this?
And he showed me a picture ofhis daughter fly fishing and I
was like that's awesome, like tosee somebody who's, who's not
just you know, this person thatworks with this company.
But hey, I also have theseother hobbies and you get to get
(35:37):
a deeper understanding of thatperson.
And I remember all of theconversations I had because they
were in that sort of Mixer ofworking on work.
So I think, for anybodylistening, you know, keep it,
keep it light sometimes anddon't just be, you know, go, go,
go.
I just need to find out whatyou do so I can make a sale or
like sell you something.
Like that's not the way to goabout this.
Yeah, but that's O, it's, it'sall there.
All the good girl with me?
(35:57):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, or isit bad?
Oscar Gonzalez (35:59):
I think that's a prime example of how to really
approach networking.
We're always going to haveplenty of time to talk about the
challenges that we're having.
That Drive is crazy.
That Drive is to improve thespaces that we're working in, to
improve where we're working,who we're working with.
But it's really super criticalto have that step back and
(36:24):
develop that connection outsideof.
This person is an expert withthis machine or in this field
and really just get to know andunderstand.
Where did these folks come from, what was their background and
how did they become successful?
How did they even theconference?
How did they take in theconference?
(36:44):
Maybe they saw something Ididn't.
That connection is supercritical.
It really sounds like thisconference was something that
was absolutely worthwhile andI'm assuming you're going to be
heading over there again nextyear.
Lawrence Wong (37:00):
Yes, I think it's .
I'm not going to say 100%because I don't know what's
happening in the future, but Ithink like a 99%.
Yes, yeah, it was a very goodconference and I think, like all
things, it's what you make ofit.
You can be the individual whois in the corner just always
trying to pit somebody, to buyor hire you or something like
(37:24):
that, but I think when you gointo it, look at it as a
learning opportunity to connectwith other people and not
connect through work, connectthrough things outside of work
as well.
Oscar Gonzalez (37:35):
I mean, there's so much research that's behind
all of that.
That even goes into how manytouch points typically occur
before a sale actually happens,and you can't pitch a product 10
times.
You better start learning otherthings to talk about with that
individual.
Where are you at?
What's going on?
(37:55):
How do you like living outthere?
You never know.
You never know what will happen.
We just have to take these ebbsand flows and connect with as
many people as possible so thatwe're able to really create
those genuine connections withthe people that we want to have
closest to us.
That's super exciting, lawrence.
(38:20):
Before we close out here, wherecan people learn more about
ISPE and this conference?
Lawrence Wong (38:29):
Yeah, so there's ispeorg, I believe is the web
link.
Through their website you canfind the different conferences
that are going on and you canjoin as a member.
I forget what the fee is, butthere are a ton of benefits to
being a member.
There's access to a bunch ofdifferent events.
You can connect with the.
(38:51):
They have these communities ofpractice, so if you do have
questions, I think they useforums to facilitate some of
that exchange of information.
I think I mentioned some othercompanies.
We'll put the link to thosecompanies in the show notes
Allogene Therapeutic in Newark,california, and then also
(39:11):
Wheeler Bio in Oklahoma CityFantastic.
Oscar Gonzalez (39:15):
Are these conferences?
Correct me if I'm wrong, butthese conferences that occur at
the beginning of the year, arethey typically the
forward-looking facilities ofthe future?
Is that a specific conferencefor ISPE?
Lawrence Wong (39:29):
Yeah, so that is one specific event that ISPE
hosts, so they have a bunch ofother events.
Oscar Gonzalez (39:37):
Regional.
Lawrence Wong (39:37):
one time to say yeah, they have another one.
I don't know if it's in Europeor in the United States, but
it's all about asepticmanufacturing and that's a
completely other topic in itself.
That's happening somewhere else, but this conference
specifically was all aboutfacility design and some of the
new innovations that were onthat.
Oscar Gonzalez (39:58):
Amazing.
Today we talked about the ISPEfacilities of the future
conference that took place inSan Francisco.
We looked at the digitaltransformation, redefining those
roles, understandingoperational efficiency and how
connecting all of thesedifferent systems is integral to
(40:19):
the success of theseadvancements and facilities.
We looked into thesustainability of these systems,
of these facilities, how someof them have been really
leveraging especially theregional location of these
facilities, leveraging solarpower, leveraging other systems
(40:41):
to deliver key insights into thehealth and the carbon footprint
of those facilities.
And then we finished out withnetworking and talking about how
it's not just developing aconversation around our work and
our work experiences, but aboutgenerating real, true, genuine
(41:05):
relationships with someone youmay have never met.
Lawrence, I appreciate the timeand I look forward to the next
one.
Lawrence Wong (41:17):
Thank you.
Welcome back to another episode of Lean by
Design Podcast.
I'm your host, Oscar Gonzalez,alongside here with my cohost
Lawrence Wong.
Today we are going to give youa recap of the recent ISPE
Facilities of the FutureConference.
We're going to look intosustainability and how that
becomes a critical component inyour facility design and
(00:24):
operations.
Understand that the digitaltransformation that's happening
now is redefining roles as moretools are developed to manage
these integrated systems.
We're going to chat a littlebit about networking, where you
can have fun, especially whenyou're showing genuine interest
in other people.
Lawrence, welcome back toBoston area.
How was the conference?
(00:45):
How did everything go it?
Lawrence Wong (00:47):
was good.
I think all of my jet lag hasfinally left my body.
I was in San Francisco, I flewin on Friday night and then I
took a red eye on Tuesday night,which I think next time I'm
going to fly on Wednesdaymorning.
Oscar Gonzalez (01:02):
Yeah, yeah, I get home Wednesday night.
Lawrence Wong (01:06):
It was good, though the conference itself was
, I would say, a little over oneand a half days, and it was in
the Hilton unions in SanFrancisco.
It's like Mac in the middle ofdowntown.
I'm not too familiar with allthe neighborhoods, but that's
where I saw it essentiallylocated.
For those people that aren'tfamiliar with ISPE, it stands
(01:32):
for International Society ofPharmaceutical Engineering.
I don't want to butcher theirmixing statements.
I'm going to read it directlyfrom their website, please.
They claim themselves as theglobal industry leader in
connecting pharma knowledge todeliver manufacturing and supply
chain innovation, operationalexcellence and regulatory
(01:52):
insights to enhance industryefforts to develop, manufacture
and reliably deliver qualitymedicines to patients.
They have a lot of chaptersacross the world and they host
great events, either thenetworking or the conferences.
They have online seminars, butessentially what they're doing
(02:12):
is they're connecting industryprofessionals with the sequence
of knowledge and new friendsthat are going on in the
industry.
The facilities of the futureconference specifically focus on
innovative next generationfacilities and related products
and services supporting thesefacilities.
(02:33):
A huge reason why I picked myinterest was to learn about what
was going on with these newfacilities.
The other part is understandinghow those will impact asset
models going on in the future.
Oscar Gonzalez (02:49):
Amazing.
I was very interested inunderstanding what I'm not
familiar with, the facilitiesand the manufacturing as you are
.
When you heard facilities ofthe future, I mean you tend to
think of a lot of robots or alot of automations, probably
(03:16):
less people within the actualfacility.
Is that a theme that we'regoing at of just how do we
develop and how do we advanceour technology to meet the
demand?
Lawrence Wong (03:31):
Yeah, I think there's a couple of different
factors that I would look at.
When you especially becauseyou're on the R&D space in drug
discovery, that's like a veryearly stages of drug development
versus on the manufacturingside, which is usually the scale
is much larger and you'repretty close to commercial at
that point.
Or maybe you're trying to getinto the clinic but you need to
(03:53):
mass produce the quantity ofdrug supplements.
There's a lot of drivers likewho's that are going on the lab
are actually impacting how thesefacilities of the future are
being designed.
So if your processes are muchsmaller going on the lab and the
(04:13):
technology is available for youto scale up in a way that
you're using let's say, smallerbioreactors, or there are
specific processes that use someof these more modular pieces of
instrumentation or equipmentthat is 100 percent going to
dictate the footprint of themanufacturing process.
(04:36):
So that's one thing I think theother thing is to think about.
You've heard a lot aboutsustainability, not just in the
pharmaceutical industry, butother industries that have large
manufacturing footprint.
So there's a lot of oil and gasis probably up there.
You think of the tech industry,any industry where you're
(04:59):
manufacturing a large number ofgoods.
There's a lot of goals aroundbeing more sustainable,
improving the impacts that weare having on the environment,
decreasing the amount of toxinsand all that better contributing
to global warming and climatechange.
Oscar Gonzalez (05:17):
That's huge.
I'm aware that in the area thatwe're in the Boston Greater
Boston area that has it's reallya science hub.
There's regulations andmultiple surrounding towns on
emissions from buildings,manufacturing facilities.
What was this look ofsustainability?
(05:42):
Is it something that's a pipedream?
Or is this something that thetechnology is taking us in our
direction to allow for us tocontinue these super complex
processes while decreasingcarbon footprint, etc?
How does that look?
Lawrence Wong (06:00):
Yeah, so there's a loaded question.
I'm going to look at it fromthe lens of one the government
regulations.
So these are the non-aggressibleterms that a lot of these
companies are going to have toalign with.
So, whether it's local orinternational levels of pushing
(06:21):
out these stricter environmentallaws, these companies have to
incorporate more of thesesustainable practices into their
facility designs to avoidpenalty fines, reputational
damage.
So you're hearing a lot aboutokay, well, how are we going to
get to net zero?
How are we going to reduce ourcarbon footprint?
You have these 2030, 2045, 2050goals and everybody is trying
(06:44):
to reduce their load on theenvironment based on some of
these regulations that arecoming out.
I think another really criticalaspect of this is outside from
just the government.
I think there's a lot of, Iwould say, brand reputation and
even from the employee lookingat companies.
(07:05):
They don't want to work for acompany that's just viewing
toxins and the earth and makingit work.
When somebody put it reallywell at the conference saying
that if we truly care about thehealth of the patients, we care
about the health of the earth.
So stakeholders are reallyacidifying these environmental,
social and government goals sothat these companies are
(07:28):
improving their footprint andtheir policies around how they
manage these facilities acrossthe network to adhere to those
things.
So if you were designingfacilities in that way, you're
going to attract the righttalent and investors going to
look at that as a positiveimpact.
Then I would be remiss to notmention the ultimate cost
(07:50):
savings.
So if you are managing thesebuildings in a more energy
efficient way, you're going tobe reducing your utility bills.
You're going to reduce theamount of waste that you're
producing from the actualoperation.
That all is going to be takingoff a load on your or increasing
your bottom line because ofthose expenses that you incur as
(08:12):
you operate the facility.
Oscar Gonzalez (08:16):
So I'm curious what kind of utility bills are
we looking at?
Because I just got my recentpropane bill and that one made
me choke a little bit on my ownair, but I'm sure that it's not
to the level of a manufacturingfacility.
I mean, are we talking in themillions over the course of like
(08:37):
a single year?
Lawrence Wong (08:40):
I think it's hard to tell it's based on.
It depends on where you are,and I don't want to speak for
other.
I think they're all the wrong.
I don't know what the naturalgas pricing is, but I'll use
that as an example.
So obviously we have thisconflict out in Europe right now
with Ukraine and Russia, andthat impacted a lot of, I would
(09:01):
say, commodities that are soldand used across the world.
Right, so natural gas, right.
If you're relying on that as animport to support some of the,
let's say, you have a boilerthat is natural gas and you're
using that to heat up thefacility and stuff as expenses
of that commodity rise, youroperating costs are going to
(09:23):
rise.
So it's in your benefit to kindof be more self-sufficient and
be more energy efficient so thatyou reduce the impact of that
supply chain.
And so people are using thingslike solar panels or wind energy
or any renewable source ofenergy to operate their
(09:44):
facilities, and people aregetting very, very creative.
From what I've seen, one of thereally good examples is this
company out in CaliforniaAllogen Therapeutics.
They opened up a CAR-T facilitya couple years ago.
So this was I didn't believe itwas a complete pandemic, and
it's a great example of how afacility is designed to be
(10:06):
environmentally sustainable and100% powered by renewable
electricity.
So, one of the reallyinteresting design aspects that
they have is they have a roofentirely covered with solar
panels and they have anagreement with a service
provider to have a fixed priceon electricity.
So, being in California, plentyof sunlight, so you're able to
(10:29):
extract that energy and store itin batteries within believe
it's within the building andthey're using it to support a
lot of their operations, whichis you know that's.
We've never seen something likethat, obviously here on the
East Coast, because of weatherconditions, but there are other,
you know.
Just because you are inCalifornia, obviously it's
(10:52):
easier in some sense to design afacility like that but that
doesn't mean that just becauseyou're on the East Coast and
you're in the Northeast, you'renot subject to that kind of
philosophy, right?
So you do have to get reallycreative from the engineering
standpoint and then reallyworking with some of the utility
companies in the area to comeup with a design that is
(11:14):
adhering to some of thesesustainability goals.
Oscar Gonzalez (11:18):
That's great, you know.
I love the point that you maderelated to what people employees
are actually looking for whenthey find, you know, a new place
to work, a new employer thatyou can see now in the offices
there's, you know there'scompost bins, there's recycle
bins.
There's, you know, refuse bins,really trying to separate, and
(11:41):
you know lend toward this.
You know sustainability, youknow the.
You know exchanging bottledwater for the filtered.
You know systems that you canput your own bottle into.
You know that's become veryprevalent, automatic.
You know dispensers for, youknow, for hand sanitizer, all
(12:02):
these little things that they'vebeen sort of adding into the
workplace that you know can help, you know, create that
sustainability and decrease thatcarbon footprint.
It's super important.
I want to go into thisconversation of digital
transformation.
(12:22):
So when you're looking atdigital transformation and
you're talking about the newtools you know that are being
developed, are those beingdriven from?
You mentioned before that thechanges in the lab or what's
affecting the facilities.
How much does that have to playinto the digital footprint that
is, you know, needing toadvance?
(12:43):
How simple or how difficultdoes that become for larger
facilities in manufacturing?
Lawrence Wong (12:50):
Yeah, so, if you're looking at a standpoint
of the lab spaces, there's a lotof very super high tech
instrumentation, right?
And so I think one of thebottlenecks or inefficiencies
that are on the lab side is thatall of these very specialized
(13:11):
pieces of instrumentation, theyall generate a wealth of data
that you need to support yourtimelines, your projects, all
this stuff, right.
And so I think, historically, alot of these systems have been
siloed, unfortunately, and soyou have to do one work in one
system.
Then somebody's got to connectthe data and feed it to
(13:31):
somewhere else, or, you know,you go around with the USB stick
, or however you manage that.
I think nowadays you have a lotof these companies that are
able to connect these differentsources of information.
So one good example, I believea company is Ben's Point, where
they're able to connect this labnotebook and you have all these
(13:51):
instruments.
Maybe you're taking certainpieces of data to kind of
compile into this database.
That's much easier to digest,in some senses, for scientists,
right?
And so I'm going to go back tothe other end of it and look at
it from a manufacturingstandpoint.
A lot of the equipment that islocated in these facilities,
(14:14):
they also are generatingenormous pieces of information
that you need to consider foryour process or your equipment
health or your manufacturingexecution system, what certain
things need to adhere to aspecific recipe.
Right?
All the pieces of data arefeeding into this pool of
(14:38):
information that you need to use, right?
And so I think when I think ofdigital transformation, it used
to mean you're takinginformation from one piece of
equipment and instrument andthen feeding it somewhere else.
But from what I gathered fromthis conference, it's less so
about that, but it's more abouthow are you connecting all of
these pieces of information andusing it right?
(14:59):
So it's not just you're usingthis HPLC here, but how is it
connected to this bi-reactor?
And then how is thatinformation connecting all the
way back to your manufacturingnetwork and how do you make
sense of that data?
Right?
So maybe you have one specificprocess change.
Well, what does that reallylook like down the line for a
large-scale operation?
Well, that's kind of what Ilook at for digital
(15:22):
transformation.
It's the technology.
When you consider the equipmentand instruments we have now,
that's something that's alreadyconnected.
It's just being able tointegrate that and make sense of
what those models look likewhen you're assessing process
performance.
Oscar Gonzalez (15:39):
So Everything's become so complex now because
we're discovering new ways to doscience.
So previously, where these twopieces of equipment probably
didn't even exist in the samefacility, they're now supporting
one another.
And so I've seen thesechallenges that you're talking
(16:00):
about.
I've seen them in a number ofR&D spaces where, well and let's
not even get into the challengeof integrating vendor-produced
data, the data that's notproduced in your system that
they have their own parameters,that they have their own output
(16:20):
system that usually comes in theway of an Excel file.
So even on that front, there isquite a bit of space in there
that would allow for digitaltransformation.
For how can you connect all ofthese different aspects of your
(16:40):
asset, different characteristicsof your asset?
How do you get that data in totalk to each other without
having this arduous process ofmanipulation on top of
manipulation on top ofmanipulation?
So it's a challenge.
That Benchling that examplethat you gave, is a really great
(17:03):
system that's really trying tocapture that market and it does
help for a lot of spaces.
There's still some challengesout there that I think are left
to be solved.
So how, in the facilities, isthere anything that's similar to
(17:24):
Benchling, that takes all ofthe data, from your asset, from
that pipeline, from that process, to craft a vision of how well
your process is performing.
Lawrence Wong (17:43):
So I'm not aware of a single solution or product
that encompasses all of thoseaspects, just because a lot of
these different products are allfrom different companies.
So I'll try to paint thepicture of what that looks like.
So, if you're in amanufacturing setting and say
(18:03):
you use an Emerson product,maybe like a Delta V, which is
your process control system thatis managing all the different
pieces of equipment that youhave in your manufacturing
process, so it'll help youcontrol and monitor the
equipment in one interface andso you can run recipes and
(18:25):
batches through that.
Another system that is notdirectly connected to that is
your maintenance system.
So these are all the serviceevents that are happening to
your equipment and it's notnecessarily in, let's say, a
process control system, becauseyou're using one for
(18:46):
manufacturing operations butyou're using another one for
maintenance operations.
And then I'll bring it evenfurther is that you have these
other platforms that areavailable for assessing the
equipment health.
So one example is your, let'ssay, you have a pump and you
want to measure the vibration ofthat specific pump.
(19:08):
Well, that vibration data isnot in either of those systems,
and so what you're having to dois take all three of those
things and try to paint thestory of what is going on with
this particular pump in thisfacility.
Wow, there are new facilitiesthat are getting really creative
on how to combine those piecesof information.
Because, let's say, you have asingle graphic, right, and it
(19:32):
shows you this particular pumpis run for this recipe and
you're able to see the processperformance.
But then at the other end of it, you want to be able to see
okay, looks like somebody didsomething to the pump for repair
.
We want to make sure that thatperformance has improved or
sustained coming out of thatevent.
And so that's when yourvibration data is going to be
(19:54):
very useful, because you want tobe able to see what's your
current performance against yourbaseline and then be able to
publish it that way.
So that's like one very goodexample of how you be able to
connect all those three.
And so when I think of you knowwhat does this mean for asset
management overall, for thefuture?
Well, you can make way betterdecisions, right?
(20:15):
I'm no longer going up to apump and going, oh, I wonder
what it's running today.
And then, okay, well, whathappened to it last week in the
maintenance event?
And then did someone measurethe vibration, you see how these
questions all become onequestion.
And the question is okay, whatis the performance trend going?
And then you have just onegraphic that shows you all those
(20:35):
three things.
And another part of it is youroperational efficiency right, so
the time that you have fromswitching over from one system
to the other, you're able toidentify these trends and
patterns and identify potentialequipment failures before they
occur.
You can optimize yourproduction schedule and then
reduce any unplanned downtimefor operations.
(20:57):
And then the I would sayanother part of it is really
your risk management compliance.
So digital transformationprovides a more advanced tool
set for you to monitor yourassets and, by default, that
could eventually lead to lesssafety incidents, environmental
harm or noncompliance, if you'reable to.
(21:21):
Another source of data right,let's say, the fourth piece of
data is that you want to seesafety incidents.
Well, let's layer that on topof the how you're doing in your
process, how you're doing inyour maintenance system, how
you're doing on the equipmenthealth piece, and then the
safety incident part, and nowyou can go wow, it looks like we
were running the pump reallyhigh and we did some sort of a
maintenance event, and thevibration is kind of wacky and
(21:43):
we had a safety event and nowyou can give a better picture of
what's going on in the plantrather than, like all that,
different sources of informationand people are.
You're relying on somebody tomake those connections right
with those four differentsystems.
But if you add them all in one,you know those conversations
are very different.
Oscar Gonzalez (22:03):
Right, and it definitely you know.
The example that you'reproviding gives me a line of
sight into you know.
Now you're able to sort ofcreate these maps that are
delivering closer I won't sayexactly the cause to whatever
challenge, but at least a closerstep into those challenges.
(22:24):
Rather than you know, we can'tunderstand why this happened and
having no data to support whathappened prior to a fix, what it
looks like after the fix andwhat, how other systems may have
been affected in that, so Icould definitely see the
importance and the criticalitybehind having that level of
(22:45):
visibility and alsounderstanding.
I think it does take a specialkind of crazy mindset to be able
to look at this entire facilityand understand what may affect
another piece of equipment andvice versa.
Lawrence Wong (23:04):
So yeah, I'll say .
Another thing is that you know,one really good example that I
saw during the presentation waswith a company called Wheeler
Bio and they have a processdevelopment lab and which is a
mile down the road from theirsmall scale GMP manufacturing
facility in Oklahoma City, andthey've not only been able to
(23:28):
bridge the gap between drugdevelopment to IND filing but,
like when you look at theirfacility and they're able to
connect these different systems.
It redefined what it means to bea scientist in that process
development lab but, also anengineer on their facility,
right, because you need to beable to incorporate all these
different sources of information.
(23:49):
And that's what I mean by thisintegration with these different
systems is that it's reallyredefining everybody's role,
because now you have thesedifferent tools that are more
advanced.
I think one of the things thatwe were talking before we hit
record with SmartSoup right, andhow that single tool is
(24:11):
redefining what it means to be aproject manager, because you
have all these different toolsthat you can use.
Your job is no longer managingone project.
Every project manager should bemanaging multiple things at
once, and it's just allowingthese tools for you to be.
You know, when you used to beable to do the work of one
person, you're able to do thework of 10 people because some
(24:33):
of these tools and that's kindof how I'm seeing these new
tools being integrated in theseroles.
Oscar Gonzalez (24:40):
You hit the nail on the head.
I mean, as these you know, lookat the state of the industry
right now, where there's, youknow, yes, at the same time that
there are layoffs, there aremergers and acquisitions, and
they're integrating newcompanies, new technologies, and
in those partnering companiesthat are providing the project
(25:04):
management, they're not in aspace that they can just manage
one project.
These are, you know, whatyou're finding is a big company,
a large, a large, you know,fortune 500 company, finding
these smaller entities that havea niche that they want to scoop
up.
But that's their technology.
(25:25):
They have projects, but guesswhat happens?
Everybody is knocking on thatdoor.
So how do you manage all ofthose projects with a workforce
that's like this?
You know that's small becauseyou have to stay lean in the
beginning, otherwise you run outof cash before you can actually
develop anything.
So how do you actually do that?
And this is where you know thatdigital integration is so
(25:48):
critical and you know that's afantastic example and I
appreciate you sharing thatexample of the Wheeler bio
really interesting and reallyinspiring to see that type of
integration.
So I want to get back to the ISPconference.
(26:11):
How is the networking?
We go to conferences.
We want to network, we want tomeet people.
But let's be honest, sometimesit's a little awkward when you
see little clusters of peopleand you're kind of like double
Dutch.
You're like, do I jump in?
Do I stay back?
Do I walk in with a fakechuckle?
(26:31):
That's a great one, you know.
So how was the networking atSBE?
Lawrence Wong (26:37):
Yeah, so I would say so.
This conference was around, say, around 600 people, which is, I
would say, generally on thesmaller end of what a conference
is.
You'll have thousands, or, youknow, even greater than that.
One thing I appreciated was,you know, the exhibit hall
(26:58):
wasn't the largest, so peoplewere kind of already crammed in.
But outside the exhibit hallthere were these little tabletop
, high table right.
So they I think theyintentionally made it so that
there were no seats, so that youcan sit around and be around
the table, and so people were ontheir feet, they had to move
(27:19):
around, and this was one of thethings.
You know, during lunch, rightwhen you get your food, there
are no seats.
Well, you could go off into the, you know one of these empty
conference rooms and probablysit there and eat by yourself,
but what they wanted you to dowas, you know, just squat.
Oscar Gonzalez (27:36):
Hey, you mind if I sit and eat here with you or
stand here with you.
Lawrence Wong (27:39):
Yeah, just stand here with you and that's.
The tables were large enoughfor you.
It was just so that you couldhave like four people, four or
five people, and that's like theideal kind of group that you
want to have, so that you canactually hear people talk and
kind of have everybody you knowtake their turn and talk about
different topics.
So I really appreciated theformat and the layout of the
(27:59):
conference itself and I'll justyou know, for networking for me
typically is a lot of theselarge events you want to be able
to Insert yourself in certainconversations that you feel
welcome in, right, and I thinkit you have a lot of nerves when
you're going into it becauseyou're like I don't know this
(28:21):
person weird or it could be anormal thing, and you run
through these lines.
I think one of the things thatreally helped me was when you
look around, you find one personby themselves and you just
introduce yourself and I try tomake every conversation with
both work and non work topics.
(28:42):
Just because You're there fortwo days if everybody is talking
about work and it's just yeah,five relief when you're not
talking about that, becauseEverybody is human, right, we
all have lines outside of workand that life is just
interesting and your work likeso, you know, for me I want to
hear about.
(29:02):
You know how did you get intothe industry?
You know why did you come tothe conference?
You know what?
What do you think was the mostinteresting?
What are your hobbies?
Asking questions to Bring outmore of the human side, of not
just your title or your company.
Right, I was very honest aboutthe point in my career.
(29:23):
I asked a lot of people aboutwhat I like to do the business
and everybody goes.
Is it scary?
You know, how did you know whento jump like all these
questions and when you arevulnerable and you are telling
them just straight from what youthink in your mind.
I think it's kind of like yousaid, right, you are trying to
(29:45):
letting down your hair or youknow, you're just being more
open about yourself and it'smuch easier to talk that way.
I would Honestly be incrediblybored and I would just be very
not interested in conversationswhere somebody is just
Constantly taking you about.
Hey, here's my new product.
There is money service.
It's like what about you?
(30:07):
But what, like?
What are you with what?
What is the?
You know the human side of allthis from from that conversation
and, yeah, I thought it wasreally good.
I met a ton of different peoplethat, strangely enough, nobody
that I met did the same thing asanybody else I met.
So like Wow, these are verylike niche roles that everybody
(30:30):
has and I was like, well,there's there's definitely room
for all this because of howlarge the industry is and how
complicated things can get.
So that's that's kind of mythoughts on networking at the
event.
Oscar Gonzalez (30:44):
I mean it sounds like there are many facets, you
know, far beyond what weinitially imagined, with
Facilities and asset management.
You know the and, for thelisteners out there, lawrence
will be doing a masterclass onnetworking, but those are all.
Those are all like super validpoints.
(31:05):
I think the difference you'reseeing a stark difference
between Real networking andbusiness development.
We can't go into these spacesand say I'm gonna talk to people
that Maybe I could work forthem later or they could work
for me, or maybe they would be afuture client.
We have to sort of, you know,build these personas and you
(31:27):
hear about it all the time.
When you're dealing with withmultiple vendors as they talk
about, how much of arelationship do you have with
that, with that vendor or theirrepresentative, or you know how
quickly do they respond like.
All of these things Come intoplay when you start to consider
who you want to work with andyou know the.
(31:49):
The idea of networking is justthat it's expanding your network
.
You may not need anything fromthem now or even in the near
future, but you're developingnot only just your connections
but you're also developing aknowledge base.
As you mentioned, you met a lotof people that don't even that,
didn't even do the same thing.
(32:09):
But now you have this, this,you know, roll a dex from the
ISP conference.
It says these are very specificthings.
If I ever come into this space,I can reach out and have a
conversation and as some reallypointing questions, you know, I
think that that's a Fantasticway to look at networking, to
(32:30):
say how can I Meet more peoplethat think like we do, that, you
know, are similar mindset, thathave different perspectives and
different backgrounds, that wecould, you know, riff, you know,
back and forth on somechallenge or problem, you know,
either now or in the future, and, you know, establish those
(32:51):
relationships.
Because I think, especially inthis industry and you know, I'm
sure, many others that you knownetworking is such a A large
part of how we're able todevelop these partnerships and
and develop these initialconversations, for Bringing
(33:13):
together two technologies todevelop something that may fit
an unmet need that exists.
This is the super criticalcomponents with with networking.
So I'm excited that you hadthat experience.
Lawrence Wong (33:29):
Yeah, I'll say one more thing about you know
you mentioned meaningfulconnections and you know, for
the line of work that we'redoing in consulting, obviously
you know one of the mostimportant things is being able
to find projects that Fit ourexpertise, but I think another
huge component of it is workingwith people that are like minded
(33:50):
that we trust and respect.
Right, and how do you buildthat trust and respect?
Well, we got to talk about work, but we're I also want to know
what about outside of work, likewe know how, what, what are
those?
What are the experiences thatyou have that Let me know and
let the other person know that.
Okay, yeah, this person you knowhas gone, has done these things
or has gone through thesethings in their life and and now
(34:13):
that that meaningfulrelationship and conversations
become something else, right, Imean, I can tell you a lot of
the people that I met.
I honestly don't even rememberwhat company they work for.
I just remember their firstname and then the conversation
that we had.
I, there was one person whothat's great name, drop his name
(34:34):
Carlos and he worked for SnyderElectric and we had talked to
me before about some of thestuff that he's doing on the
building building managementsystem side.
So what that company does isthey have this platform that
allows you to manage utilitiesin the building so you're able
to see, like, how the equipmentis doing, but also alarms and
(34:54):
all that jazz.
So we have very technicalconversations about Forecasting
performance and looking atequipment health and how the
analytics kind of play into thefacilities of the future.
Awesome, I found him the nextday and we didn't have a single
conversation about work, it wasmore about.
Oscar Gonzalez (35:12):
Hey, are you looking for the?
Lawrence Wong (35:14):
area, like where do you live and and how is it,
like you know, living here withyour, with your family?
And Then we had a conversationabout flyfishing and I was like
that's awesome and like, wow, doyour kids do this?
And he showed me a picture ofhis daughter fly fishing and I
was like that's awesome, like tosee somebody who's, who's not
just you know, this person thatworks with this company.
But hey, I also have theseother hobbies and you get to get
(35:37):
a deeper understanding of thatperson.
And I remember all of theconversations I had because they
were in that sort of Mixer ofworking on work.
So I think, for anybodylistening, you know, keep it,
keep it light sometimes anddon't just be, you know, go, go,
go.
I just need to find out whatyou do so I can make a sale or
like sell you something.
Like that's not the way to goabout this.
Yeah, but that's O, it's, it'sall there.
All the good girl with me?
(35:57):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, or isit bad?
Oscar Gonzalez (35:59):
I think that's a prime example of how to really
approach networking.
We're always going to haveplenty of time to talk about the
challenges that we're having.
That Drive is crazy.
That Drive is to improve thespaces that we're working in, to
improve where we're working,who we're working with.
But it's really super criticalto have that step back and
(36:24):
develop that connection outsideof.
This person is an expert withthis machine or in this field
and really just get to know andunderstand.
Where did these folks come from, what was their background and
how did they become successful?
How did they even theconference?
How did they take in theconference?
(36:44):
Maybe they saw something Ididn't.
That connection is supercritical.
It really sounds like thisconference was something that
was absolutely worthwhile andI'm assuming you're going to be
heading over there again nextyear.
Lawrence Wong (37:00):
Yes, I think it's .
I'm not going to say 100%because I don't know what's
happening in the future, but Ithink like a 99%.
Yes, yeah, it was a very goodconference and I think, like all
things, it's what you make ofit.
You can be the individual whois in the corner just always
trying to pit somebody, to buyor hire you or something like
(37:24):
that, but I think when you gointo it, look at it as a
learning opportunity to connectwith other people and not
connect through work, connectthrough things outside of work
as well.
Oscar Gonzalez (37:35):
I mean, there's so much research that's behind
all of that.
That even goes into how manytouch points typically occur
before a sale actually happens,and you can't pitch a product 10
times.
You better start learning otherthings to talk about with that
individual.
Where are you at?
What's going on?
(37:55):
How do you like living outthere?
You never know.
You never know what will happen.
We just have to take these ebbsand flows and connect with as
many people as possible so thatwe're able to really create
those genuine connections withthe people that we want to have
closest to us.
That's super exciting, lawrence.
(38:20):
Before we close out here, wherecan people learn more about
ISPE and this conference?
Lawrence Wong (38:29):
Yeah, so there's ispeorg, I believe is the web
link.
Through their website you canfind the different conferences
that are going on and you canjoin as a member.
I forget what the fee is, butthere are a ton of benefits to
being a member.
There's access to a bunch ofdifferent events.
You can connect with the.
(38:51):
They have these communities ofpractice, so if you do have
questions, I think they useforums to facilitate some of
that exchange of information.
I think I mentioned some othercompanies.
We'll put the link to thosecompanies in the show notes
Allogene Therapeutic in Newark,california, and then also
(39:11):
Wheeler Bio in Oklahoma CityFantastic.
Oscar Gonzalez (39:15):
Are these conferences?
Correct me if I'm wrong, butthese conferences that occur at
the beginning of the year, arethey typically the
forward-looking facilities ofthe future?
Is that a specific conferencefor ISPE?
Lawrence Wong (39:29):
Yeah, so that is one specific event that ISPE
hosts, so they have a bunch ofother events.
Oscar Gonzalez (39:37):
Regional.
Lawrence Wong (39:37):
one time to say yeah, they have another one.
I don't know if it's in Europeor in the United States, but
it's all about asepticmanufacturing and that's a
completely other topic in itself.
That's happening somewhere else, but this conference
specifically was all aboutfacility design and some of the
new innovations that were onthat.
Oscar Gonzalez (39:58):
Amazing.
Today we talked about the ISPEfacilities of the future
conference that took place inSan Francisco.
We looked at the digitaltransformation, redefining those
roles, understandingoperational efficiency and how
connecting all of thesedifferent systems is integral to
(40:19):
the success of theseadvancements and facilities.
We looked into thesustainability of these systems,
of these facilities, how someof them have been really
leveraging especially theregional location of these
facilities, leveraging solarpower, leveraging other systems
(40:41):
to deliver key insights into thehealth and the carbon footprint
of those facilities.
And then we finished out withnetworking and talking about how
it's not just developing aconversation around our work and
our work experiences, but aboutgenerating real, true, genuine
(41:05):
relationships with someone youmay have never met.
Lawrence, I appreciate the timeand I look forward to the next
one.
Lawrence Wong (41:17):
Thank you.
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