CSL receives global award for automated plasma facility

CSL Behring Australia’s plasma processing facility in Broadmeadows, Victoria has been awarded 2025 Facility of the Year in the Pharma 4.0 category by the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) for its Project Aurora.

The award recognises the facility’s advanced use of digital technologies and automation in pharmaceutical manufacturing.

CSL Project Aurora is a significant base fractionation expansion initiative at the company’s Broadmeadows Campus. The project has enabled end-to-end manufacturing at the site by supplying the intermediate products from plasma to CSL’s existing immunoglobulin and albumin facilities. The company aligned all products manufactured at Broadmeadows with the company’s global product platform.

The facility is the largest of its kind in the CSL network, increasing the site’s capacity to nine times its previous level and reaching the equivalent of over 10 million litres of plasma per year. The facility produces intermediates for immunoglobulin and albumin products, as well as products to treat haemophilia, which are all vital for the global patient community. These products meet the growing global demand for plasma-based therapies, essential for treating conditions such as immunodeficiency, neurological disorders and burns. They are used by patients and healthcare professionals worldwide, including cancer patients and patients in need of transplants and surgical procedures.

According to ISPE, CSL’s application of technology and innovation is seen across multiple aspects of the facility design and operations. Process innovation is seen in areas like the advanced filtration technology that emphasises sustainability through reusable filter membranes while using robotic cleaning systems to ensure repeatable, compliant processes. The use of robotics and automation does not stop there. Across the facility, CSL has consistently applied the use of robotics and automation to remove manual steps and ensure consistency and accuracy. The central warehouse was also automated with a fully equipped automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) and automated guided vehicles (AGV) for distribution throughout the facility.

The powder handling process was fully automated to remove the exposure to the operators from the process. This system decants and dispenses powder materials from flexible intermediate bulk containers within the central powder handling clean room. It uses pneumatic batch transfer to move powders into individual process vessels via vacuum receivers. Each powder handling system is a closed, dedicated system for a single powder, thereby eliminating the risk of exposure, contamination and cross-contamination. Robotic, automated machines were developed to continuously remove frozen plasma from individual donor bottles and bags. They then feed the empty bottles directly to an automated shredder, eliminating the manual handling of waste, enhancing operator safety and minimising the overall volume of waste. The system is also used to simulate process changes and significantly reduce the risk of mistakes when they are deployed.

CSL has further committed to automation and digitalisation with the incorporation of a full manufacturing execution system (MES) for manufacturing and the application of a digital twin and data analytics. As a result, the company has seen 98% right-first-time production through the use of this technology. The full integration of the MES and quality systems has reduced batch review times by 87% and decreased deviations by 20%. The enhanced data management across the MES, enterprise research planning software (ERP) and laboratory information management systems (LIMS) has supported CSL’s focus on real-time data, monitoring and analytics.

The digital twin is used to develop a highly detailed dynamic process simulation. This was used to analyse all process and cleaning steps. This allowed for detailed scenario-based dynamic simulations used to identify and prioritise process bottlenecks and continuous improvement initiatives, and optimise operational staffing models.

ISPE says that the award recognises the effective full-scale application and integration of various robotics and automation technologies.

Image caption: CSL’s Project Aurora. Source: ISPE.