Tech Transfer Fast-Tracked
How NPG helped a top medical device company achieve “Right to Sell” one month ahead of plan
Following a major acquisition, a global medical device company needed to transfer manufacturing operations from an acquired facility into an existing receiving site without disrupting customer service, product availability, or quality expectations. The scope included construction of a new ISO-class cleanroom, equipment and process transitions, material readiness, master data setup, and cross-functional alignment across Manufacturing, Quality, R&D, Master Data, Commercial, Sourcing, and Supply Chain.
Network Partners Group (NPG) provided project leadership, governance, issue resolution, and execution discipline to help the client accelerate the transfer while maintaining control of scope, budget, risks, and stakeholder expectations.
Key Outcomes
- The receiving site was able to build the product with no constraints earlier than planned
- Infrastructure and escalation pathways were in place to quickly mitigate ramp-up issues
- Project achieved “Right to Sell” for the U.S. market one month ahead of schedule
- The project was recognized for best-in-class execution, tools, and project management practices
- NPG tools and templates were requested as examples to train other internal teams
Challenge
Following an acquisition, a global medical device company faced a complex and highly visible challenge: transferring manufacturing from an acquired facility into a pre-existing receiving site while maintaining continuity of service and product supply to customers. The program required construction of a new ISO-class cleanroom, transfer of equipment and processes, system and data readiness, material availability, and alignment across multiple business functions.
The project carried significant risk due to the number of dependencies, the sensitivity of the acquisition integration, and the need to avoid disruption during ramp-up. While the overall scope was defined as a site transfer of existing products, the project team encountered several execution challenges that could have delayed readiness, including:
- Material assumptions that were not fully validated early enough in the process
- Label stock materials existing in the wrong system environment with no inventory on hand
- Ambiguity between R&D and Master Data regarding ownership of the variant code setup
- Commercial pressure to expand the scope beyond the original site transfer boundaries
- Scope add requests that risked distracting the team from critical path execution
- Cross-functional decisions that required faster escalation and clearer accountability
Without strong project leadership, these issues could have created schedule delays, rework, decision churn, and potential impact to the Right to Sell timeline.
Introduction / Background
A top medical device company engaged NPG to provide project leadership for the transfer of a recently acquired manufacturing facility into an established receiving site. The transfer involved multiple products, complex processes, equipment transitions, cleanroom readiness, system setup, and cross-functional coordination. The client needed experienced project leadership that could quickly step into an active, high-priority program and bring structure, clarity, and execution momentum.
NPG partnered with the client’s internal program leadership and functional teams to map the end-to-end transfer plan, identify critical dependencies, manage risks, and establish a disciplined governance model. Through proactive planning, issue escalation, and cross-functional facilitation, NPG helped the team maintain alignment and continue progressing despite changing priorities, material readiness issues, and ownership gaps.
This structured approach enabled the project team to meet an accelerated delivery timeline and achieve Right to Sell for the U.S. market one month ahead of plan.
NPG Approach
1. Reframe and Rescope
NPG helped the client clarify the true scope of the site transfer and separate required transfer activities from new commercial launch requests. Although the program was intended to focus on pre-existing products manufactured at the sending site, Commercial and Marketing stakeholders sought to add parallel product launch activities into the transfer scope.
To prevent scope expansion from putting the critical path at risk, NPG and the client program lead developed a Decision Matrix to guide what could and could not be included in the transfer. This tool created a clear, objective framework for decision-making and gave the project team a consistent way to address future scope challenges.
The Decision Matrix helped the team:
- Define what was in scope versus out of scope
- Protect the project from unmanaged scope creep
- Align stakeholders around agreed decision criteria
- Maintain focus on Right to Sell and site readiness milestones
- Reduce recurring debate by creating a documented reference point
This allowed the team to preserve execution discipline while still giving stakeholders a transparent rationale for scope decisions.
2. Deploy Right-Fit Experts and Cross-Functional Coordination
NPG brought experienced project leadership capable of navigating complex site transfer dependencies across Manufacturing, Quality, R&D, Master Data, Sourcing, Supply Chain, and Commercial teams. The project required more than schedule tracking; it required active facilitation of cross-functional problem solving.
One key challenge involved material readiness. The team initially assumed that a pre-existing label in the system for the new receiving site would be readily available and usable during ramp-up. However, the selected label stock materials were in the incorrect system environment for that manufacturing site, and there was no inventory on hand. This created a complex change request process to establish the materials correctly.
NPG quickly organized the required stakeholders, clarified hand-offs, and created visibility into the steps needed to recover the timeline. Actions included:
- Developing a dashboard to track key hand-offs and approvals
- Holding daily status meetings to drive urgency and accountability
- Engaging approvers directly to accelerate the change request process
- Pulling in Sourcing to support material availability
- Reinforcing the need for early Bill of Materials test runs in future transfers
This rapid response helped the team mitigate a material readiness risk that could have delayed ramp-up.
3. Lead the Program
NPG provided hands-on program leadership to manage timelines, deliverables, decisions, risks, and issue escalation. The project team encountered several situations where work was stalled because ownership was unclear. One example involved the setup of variant codes, where R&D believed Master Data owned the activity, while Master Data believed R&D was accountable.
This lack of ownership slowed the initial setup required to support order test runs. NPG facilitated the necessary conversations across functions to break down the issue, clarify the required activities, and assign ownership for each step.
NPG’s leadership helped the team:
- Identify where accountability was unclear
- Bring the right stakeholders together quickly
- Separate decision ownership from execution ownership
- Document who was responsible for each setup activity
- Drive decisions that allowed the team to move forward
- Reduce “swirling” and prevent further schedule impact
The issue also highlighted a broader business need and led to a company improvement project focused on creating a business unit ownership diagram. This reinforced the value of project leadership not only in solving immediate execution risks but also in identifying systemic improvements for future programs.
4. Restore Confidence and Alignment
Throughout the transfer, NPG maintained structure, transparency, and stakeholder confidence by ensuring the team had the right governance, escalation paths, and communication cadence in place. As risks emerged, the team was able to quickly assess impact, develop mitigation plans, and align on decisions.
NPG’s approach helped restore and maintain project momentum through:
- Clear governance and decision-making forums
- Daily or targeted status meetings during critical recovery periods
- Dashboards and tracking tools to create visibility across functions
- Risk and issue management tied to actionable mitigation plans
- Escalation support for critical approvals and hand-offs
- Consistent reinforcement of scope boundaries and project priorities
This enabled the project team to stay aligned, respond quickly to challenges, and continue advancing toward the Right to Sell milestone. The project was ultimately recognized for best-in-class project management practices, with NPG tools and templates requested as examples to support broader team training.
Results
NPG’s project leadership enabled the client to execute a complex manufacturing site transfer ahead of plan while maintaining budget discipline, stakeholder alignment, and operational readiness.
Measurable Results
- Achieved Right to Sell for the U.S. market one month ahead of schedule
- Delivered the project within budget
- Enabled the receiving site to build with no constraints earlier than planned
- Established infrastructure to quickly mitigate ramp-up issues
- Resolved key material, ownership, and scope risks without derailing the timeline
- Created reusable tools, including dashboards, hand-off trackers, and a scope Decision Matrix
- Received recognition for best-in-class project management practices
- Client requested NPG tools and templates to train other internal project teams
Business Impact
By bringing structure, urgency, and cross-functional execution leadership, NPG helped the client protect supply continuity, accelerate market readiness, and create a repeatable model for future site transfer programs
