A.1 Introduction

In past the process facilities were designed to produce a defined throughput of a specific product. Material balance equations and equipment selections were made to meet throughput requirements. Plant managers could be heard bragging when a facility was producing more than the design capacity. Seldom were calculations and designs developed for lesser throughputs. When market demands diminished and production rates were reduced, the oversized equipment, different process dynamics and control system tuning parameters made it difficult to produce a quality product. Similarly, when competition, regulation or market demands required changing the product, facilities often required extended shut downs and sizable investments to prepare the facility for the new product. Now a days, requirements for flexibility and time-to-market have become key business drivers. To quickly produce a new product, in customer-required quantities, producers are turning to batch processing and process automation. Agile is the buzzword-modular is the way to achieve it.

Companies face tough economic realities in the business of discovering and bringing new products to market. Only one in ten thousands of the new compounds discovered in a pharmaceutical lab survive for successful commercial production. When a new product is approved, it is imperative to maximize the return on investments by scaling up to commercial production quickly. This challenge can be only met using modular construction and design techniques. Although this can save time at the construction site, front-end design time may actually increase. Still the companies face the dilemma of being late to market or the risk...