The World’s first facility dedicated to the production of Next-generation oncology biologics — a €500M landmark in global life sciences, delivered on time in 12 months with a comprehensive lean construction programme developed and embedded by Lean Touch Solutions.
Last Planner® System
Value Stream Mapping
6S Methodology
Kaizen Events
Process Mapping
| Project Value | Duration | Teams Collaborated with | Systems Installed & Comissioned | Partners Trained & Certified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| € 0.5Bn | 12 Months | 6 | 279 | 250 |
| Project Value | € 0.5Bn |
|---|---|
| Duration | 12 Months |
| Teams Collaborated with | 6 |
| Systems Installed & Commissioned | 279 |
| Partners Trained & Certified | 250 |
The MSD Carlow Rathgal project represents one of the most significant milestones in Ireland’s life sciences history. This €500 million facility is the world’s first dedicated production site for next-generation oncology biologics — a ground-breaking initiative that placed Ireland at the absolute forefront of global biopharmaceutical manufacturing innovation.
What made this project extraordinary was not just its scale, but its timeline. In an industry where major biologics facilities typically take three to five years from ground-breaking to operational qualification, the Rathgal facility was delivered within a demanding 12-month construction timeline. Achieving that without compromising on quality, regulatory compliance, or system integration required an exceptionally disciplined lean construction programme embedded from day one.
The facility’s construction phase created 700 critical roles, delivering a major boost to the Carlow economy and the broader Leinster skills base. The project involved the full build and commissioning of a highly advanced biologics plant, integrating 27 complex systems and key equipment — each requiring precise installation, testing, and validation to meet the stringent operational standards for oncology treatment production.
Global Milestone: No equivalent facility existed anywhere in the world prior to the delivery of MSD Rathgal. This project did not just break Irish records — it broke global benchmarks for what is possible in next-generation oncology biologics facility construction when lean principles are embedded from the outset.
The 27 complex systems installed and commissioned at Rathgal spanned the full breadth of a state-of-the-art biologics manufacturing operation. Each required a precise, sequenced installation approach — and every interface between systems had to be validated under GMP conditions before the facility could progress to qualification.
Our Lean Programme –
Lean Touch Solutions was engaged to design and deliver a holistic lean construction programme for the Rathgal facility — one that extended across all project stages, all teams, and all disciplines, from ground-breaking through to CQV completion.
Our objective was clear: support the on-time, high-quality delivery of a world-first facility, within a compressed 12-month programme, in a GMP-regulated environment where no margin for waste or delay existed. This demanded a lean programme that went beyond tools and techniques — it required embedding a genuine lean culture within every team on the project.
Our approach began with co-creation. We developed the lean construction strategy in close collaboration with MSD leadership, project managers, and specialist trade partners. Securing full buy-in from all stakeholders — including client leadership and trade teams — was considered essential before a single lean tool was deployed. Without that buy-in, lean remains theoretical. With it, it becomes the project’s operating system.
Deployed to drive predictable, reliable workflow across all trade teams — look-ahead planning, constraint logging, and weekly work plan commitment cycles to maintain 12-month programme momentum.
Critical construction and commissioning processes mapped in both current and future state — identifying and eliminating non-value-adding activities that threatened the 12-month delivery timeline.
Comprehensive 6S site organisation deployed across all work areas — Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardise, Sustain — creating efficient, safe, and GMP-compliant workspaces throughout the facility build.
Structured rapid-improvement workshops at identified bottleneck areas — delivering targeted process improvements in compressed timeframes, keeping the programme on track through the most demanding installation phases.
Current-state process maps developed for key commissioning and qualification workflows — identifying interface risks between systems and supporting the design of efficient, sequenced CQV delivery pathways.
Cultural transformation across all teams and 250 trained partners — embedding the five lean behaviours (Trust, Accountability, Transparency, Respect, Continuous Improvement) into daily project practice at every level.
A global first — no equivalent facility existed anywhere in the world prior to this project's completion.
Project Approach –
No lean programme template could address the unique demands of the world’s first next-generation oncology biologics facility. Lean Touch Solutions deployed its standardised lean construction implementation framework — but adapted comprehensively to the specific constraints, system complexity, regulatory requirements, and compressed timeline of the Rathgal project.
Lean programme designed jointly with MSD leadership, project management teams, and specialist trade partners. Full stakeholder buy-in secured before deployment — client leadership, site management, and all trade teams aligned to a unified lean culture from day one. KPIs established: PPC targets, system completion rates, constraint removal metrics, and 12-month milestone schedule.
Last Planner® System launched across all trade teams simultaneously. Pull planning sessions conducted to establish milestone schedule and work packaging logic for all 27 systems. 5S deployed site-wide — Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardise, Sustain — creating efficient, GMP-aligned workspaces from the earliest construction phases.
250 partner personnel trained and certified in lean construction best practices — not a one-day awareness session but a structured accreditation programme that embedded lean behaviours and methods into every team working on the project. Training adapted to the biologics manufacturing context throughout.
Value Stream Mapping sessions deployed to analyse and optimise critical construction and commissioning workflows. Current-state maps identified bottlenecks and non-value-adding steps. Future-state designs compressed key processes and enabled the 12-month programme to stay on track through the most intensive system integration phases.
Lean principles extended into Commissioning, Qualification, and Validation — applying pull planning and constraint management to IQ/OQ/PQ protocols across all 27 systems. Kaizen events resolved persistent bottlenecks as the facility transitioned from construction to qualification. On-time CQV completion achieved, enabling the world-first facility to meet its global supply commitments.
Outcomes & Results –
The results of the Rathgal lean construction programme speak to what is possible when lean is embedded holistically — across every team, every system, and every project phase — rather than applied superficially as a scheduling overlay.
Facility value delivered on time within 12-month programme
Complex systems installed, commissioned and validated to GMP standard
Partners trained and certified in lean construction best practices
Critical roles created during construction — significant economic impact for Carlow
Lean Construction in Life Sciences –
Delivering the world’s first next-generation oncology biologics facility in 12 months is not achievable through conventional project management alone. The 27 complex system integrations, the GMP regulatory requirements, the compressed programme, and the global significance of what was being built created a project environment where waste of any kind — time, motion, rework, waiting — was simply unacceptable.
Lean construction, and specifically the Last Planner® System, Value Stream Mapping, and 6S, provided the operational infrastructure for success. The collaborative planning culture, real-time constraint management, and systematic waste elimination that lean creates were not add-ons to this project — they were the reasons it succeeded.
Lean Touch Solutions has delivered lean programmes on five major MSD facilities across Ireland. The Rathgal project represents the most compressed and globally significant of these engagements — and demonstrates what our LCI-registered lean practitioners can achieve on the most demanding pharmaceutical construction programmes. Learn more about our lean construction approach.
Tell us about your project and we’ll explain how our lean construction programme delivers results in GMP-regulated environments.
The MSD Carlow Rathgal project proves what lean construction can achieve in the most demanding pharmaceutical environments. A world-first facility, delivered in 12 months — that is the standard that Lean Touch Solutions brings to every pharmaceutical engagement.
The key differentiator is not the lean tools themselves — it is how they are embedded. Our practitioners co-design the lean programme with the project leadership, secure genuine buy-in across all stakeholders, and then implement with rigour and consistency for the full duration of the project. That is what delivers results at Rathgal, at Swords, and across the MSD portfolio in Ireland.
The Last Planner® System was central to achieving the 12-month Rathgal programme. By creating a shared, commitment-based planning system across all trade teams, LPS gave every person on the project a clear view of what needed to happen, who was responsible for it, and what was stopping it.
Value Stream Mapping in a pharmaceutical construction environment is not the same as in manufacturing. The process steps, the regulatory touchpoints, the validation protocols, and the interface dependencies between systems create a map of extraordinary complexity. Lean Touch Solutions has developed deep expertise in applying VSM to pharma construction — and the Rathgal project demonstrates what targeted VSM analysis can achieve when it identifies the right bottlenecks in the right sequence.
Our current-state maps at Rathgal revealed non-value-adding activities in critical commissioning workflows. Our future-state designs compressed those processes — making the 12-month timeline achievable.
Lean Touch Solutions has delivered lean construction programmes across five major MSD pharmaceutical facilities in Ireland — a combined project value exceeding €2.5Bn. We are an LCI-registered lean construction trainer, founded by Declan Holahan, who has spent over 13 years building lean capability in the Irish pharmaceutical construction sector.
Based in Naas, Co. Kildare, we serve pharmaceutical construction projects throughout Ireland and Europe. If you are planning a pharmaceutical, biotech, or life sciences construction programme, contact our team to discuss how lean construction can transform your delivery.
