Pharmaceutical Engineering Committee

Engineering Risk Management Lead - Johnson Matthey

Claire is a versatile and accomplished senior leader with extensive experience in the pharmaceutical Industry. Her expertise spans engineering, operations, strategy, supply chain management, outsourcing, and manufacturing, and she has held roles in industries such as steel, pharmaceuticals, and consumer healthcare. She has spent a considerable portion of her career working for GSK both in UK and Global roles.

A Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers as well as chair of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Pharmaceutical Committee, Claire is committed to mentoring and applying best practices in change management, focusing on personal and professional growth. Her leadership fosters environments where individuals and businesses alike can thrive. 

What you want to achieve on the committee?

Claire would like to learn from each other’s experiences in pharmaceutical manufacturing and find opportunities to share best practices.  We work in a great industry and it is important that Engineers contributions in the healthcare industry are recognised.

Bob worked in the Pharmaceutical Industry for nearly forty years. His experience includes Production and Engineering Management, New Product Development, Factory Design, Supply Chain Management, Validation and a variety of support functions. He has a special interest in the use of risk management and modern quality methodologies in the various aspects of regulatory compliance. As well as his experience in the Pharmaceutical industry, Bob has also worked in a range of other industries, including: aerospace, precision engineering, FMCG, insurance and e-commerce.

What you want to achieve on the committee?

There are a great many best practices in use in other industries that would be of great benefit to the world of pharmaceuticals. By sharing these, I hope to help the UK’s Life Sciences industry maintain its strong position in the global rena.

Head of Operational Engineering & Compliance, GSK

Chris is a chartered mechanical engineer who has worked for the GSK group of companies in a range of engineering roles for over 30 years.  He has worked at six pharmaceutical manufacturing sites in the UK, Mexico and Spain and is currently Head of Operational Engineering & Compliance for the GSK manufacturing network of 70 sites in 30 countries.

Chris has a particular interest in manufacturing plant maintenance, reliability and equipment performance and has also led GSK’s engineering standards and compliance programme.

Compliance Officer, GSK

Karen has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for over 25 years, across dosage forms, oral to sterile.  Holding roles across Engineering, Quality, Automated Systems, Process, Validation and more; in roles from GxP Auditor to Head of Department.

She is currently working for GSK within their Global Supply Chain Engineering and EHS compliance.

‘We must encourage the next generation, while valuing the contribution made by the last.  Knowledge sharing and networking is a part of this.  We have an open-door policy in this committee, and encourage those an interest in Engineering to become members of our friendly team.’

Karen was Chair of the Pharmaceutical TAC committee for 10 years and has been involved with the institution for over 15.

Process Manager, GSK

Aaron is a mechanical engineering graduate, from Queen’s University Belfast, with 7 years experience in the Pharmaceutical industry.

Having worked at a variety of manufacturing sites in the UK (Bulk API, Secondary Manufacture and Packing), Aaron’s main focuses have been in operations engineering with a passion for continuous improvement and reliability. Having upskilled Lean Six Sigma, data analysis and development of digital tools, he is now focusing on future ready solutions to improve efficiency and decision making while also deploying Industry 4.0 projects. 

What you want to achieve on the committee?

Aaron would like to use this platform to showcase the potential the pharmaceutical industry has for developing engineers and professional engineers from other industries. 

Help highlight the similarities in experience with “traditional” engineering sectors while also demonstrating the unique technical challenges from manufacturing and developing in a highly regulated industry. 

Also to engage with young engineers at university to consider the industry as a potential employer that has a genuine positive impact on the world by improving the quality of life for its patients.

Senior Manufacturing Engineer, aVaxziPen Ltd

Chartered Engineer with experience in a variety of pharmaceutical engineering roles across R&D and manufacturing – with a focus on steriles manufacturing, process design and scale-up of novel processes, facility design, qualification and validation. Within team leader and technical lead roles, have acted as the primary engineering resource for addressing the engineering and manufacturing challenges which arise as candidates are taken from research and development, through the clinical phases and into commercial manufacture. 

What you want to achieve on the committee?

Would like to build upon the fantastic work of the committee: engage with a wider engineering audience outside of the work-place to both educate and learn from each other; discuss engineering problems with peers to create new ideas; generate excitement and further engagement for pharmaceutical engineering.

Principal Consultant, Protogen Ltd.

A Chartered Engineer, lead auditor and MHRA registered RP, Richard has over 40 years of engineering design and management experience in industries as diverse as agriculture and motorsport. 

He has spent the last 20 years exclusively in pharmaceutical management and consultancy positions, including validation, GMDP quality engineering, quality systems, lean compliance and risk-based GMDP sustainable policies, for companies such as Xellia, Novartis, Medimmune, Lonza, Pfizer, GSK, Alexion and Ipsen. 

Outside of RP and project duties, his interests include architectural design, house renovation, gardening and motorsport.

Managing Director, Finpromach Ltd

I started working in the Pharmaceutical Industry over 25 years ago, designing and implementing custom designed machines to specifically solve challenges of Pharmaceutical production with regards to GMP regulations in clean production areas specifically relating to Materials Handling. I have travelled all over the world, visited many different production sites for different companies. I have a broad depth of knowledge of the different approaches by different companies and geographies. In the past few years I started my own company to promote innovative companies recognising those who are planning for the future and meeting the ever increasing demands placed on the manufacturing process. 

What you want to achieve on the committee?

I hope to use my knowledge and experience to help others who may have a problem to solve that I can help with.

Retired/consultant

Project Manager in the Ellipta expansion programme, GSK

Dan graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2014 with a Masters in Mechanical Engineering focusing on heat transfer, fluid flow and advance manufacturing including a dissertation in additive manufacturing.

Straight from university he joined GSK on their graduate programme which has given him a breath of experience across consumer healthcare, primary and secondary pharmaceutical manufacturing. His roles have included Project Manager/Engineer, Reliability Engineer and Site Physical Contamination Programme Lead.

Dan is also progressing through the IMechE MPDS scheme.

Founder & CEO, The Care Machine Ltd

Dr Helen Meese is an award-winning chartered mechanical engineer with over 20 years’ experience in industry and academia. She is CEO of The Care Machine, an engineering consultancy that works with early-stage innovators to develop medical technology and services. Helen is an accomplished public affairs and policy specialist; providing consultation and thought leadership to Government, industry, and the public sector on engineering and its contribution to health & care. She is passionate about all aspects of STEM and provides mentoring and coaching to young engineers as well as being the host of the IMechE’s engineering podcast, Impulse to Innovation. She is Chair of the IMechE’s Biomedical Engineering Division and a past Trustee, member of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Healthcare Policy Topic Group, Vice-Chair of the SBRI healthcare panel and a Health Foundation Q Community member. 

What you want to achieve on the committee?

My goal on the Pharma committee is to bring the communities of pharma production and biomedical engineering closer together by sharing opportunities across the division and group.

Independent consultant with thirty years’ experience in the pharmaceuticals, life sciences and health security sectors. Previously held operational and senior management roles within major pharmaceutical consulting companies. Strengths include technical understanding, interpersonal skills to advise and guide client teams, systematic problem-solving approach and the capability to identify resource needs, set targets and direct multidisciplinary teams through all project stages to successfully deliver the solutions required by his clients.

Member of various pharmaceutical technical societies promoting life sciences knowledge and thought leadership. Also member of BSI Committee involved in drafting new ISO standard for laboratory design.

Expertise spans development of the initial brief, planning and management of design, procurement, construction, validation and regulatory licensing stages of a very wide range of facilities internationally. Including highly specified life sciences R&D and analytical testing laboratories, pharmaceutical products manufacturing facilities with complex services, barrier vivaria and bio-secure facilities with high-containment requirements.

Has undertaken governance review and guidance to corporate and public sector client senior management teams during project business case and brief development stages to comply with the required corporate approvals processes. Also peer reviews of design proposals, GMP audits and technical due diligence inspections of existing facilities worldwide. Defined and implemented remedial action and validation plans to successfully enable clients to obtain the necessary approvals and operating licenses for their facilities from regulatory authorities.

Vice President Technical, Parexel Consulting

A chartered chemist and fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry with over 30 years of experience in manufacturing, quality assurance and information management in the pharmaceutical industry.

Siegfried previously worked for Roche and GE Healthcare, and in consulting roles for Raytheon and ABB. 

The last 16 years he has been with Parexel providing regulatory, compliance and industry-best-practices consulting services globally, covering the entire life cycle.

He is a thought leader on data integrity and supply chain. 

What you want to achieve on the committee?

Engineering is a fundamental element for achieving compliance in the pharmaceutical industry. I like to bring my experience to this group and also learn from it.

Platforms Engineering Manager, Biologics & Devices Manufacturing, GSK

Zhiru is a chartered mechanical engineer who has worked for GSK for over 10 years, since graduated with MSc and BEng (Honours) degrees in Operations and Mechanical Engineering.

He has worked at three pharmaceutical manufacturing sites across the country, where oral solid dose products, sterile injection products, and inhaler devices are produced. He has also managed utilities and facilities at a Pharmaceutical R&D (Research & Development) site.

Zhiru’s roles have included Engineer, Senior Engineer and Engineering Department Manager. The roles involved equipment and facilities maintenance, equipment performance improvement as well as capital project delivery. More recently he has been focusing on asset lifecycle management. By doing so he is working to influence strategic planning, design, construction, testing & commissioning through to maintenance and decommission. He has also gained some interesting experience in third-party engineering service contract management.  

What you want to achieve on the committee?

Zhiru would like to use this opportunity to help raise profile of the importance of mechanical engineering in the pharmaceutical industry. Zhiru has some interesting experience in which mechanical engineers have played surprisingly key roles in pharmaceutical business. 

Equally he would like to use this opportunity to help further increase presence of IMechE in the pharmaceutical industry for time served engineers and developing engineers.  

Via some more knowledge sharing, networking and support, he hopes to add some value to both IMechE and the industry. 

Chas is a Chartered mechanical engineer with over 35 years experience both in the UK and overseas. He has been involved with, and in many cases lead, a wide range of pharmaceutical and bio-containment projects as well as nuclear and microelectronics projects in the past.

Chas is experienced in the design, construction, commissioning validation and licensing of such facilities and takes great interest in robust solutions for their related HVAC systems and process utilities, including purified water, WFI and pure steam systems, process temperature control systems, compressed air, gas and vacuum systems, thermal effluent treatment plant and process control.

Chartered mechanical engineer, a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and a Member of the Energy Institute with over 35 years experience in project, mechanical and process engineering mainly in the pharmaceutical industry.

Maurice’s previous experience as a project manager for an engineering design and consultancy company included various assignments, covering project engineering and validation work for pharmaceutical industry clients.

Previously employed by a major United States pharmaceutical manufacturer as a lead project engineer, and Head of Engineering in the Maintenance Department for the Mechanical Workshop, Planning, Fermentation and Recovery, Pharmaceutical Engineering. 

Maurice would like to contribute to the committee discussions based on previous experience as a Pharmaceutical Engineer.