KANSAS CITY, MO — CRB, a leading provider of sustainable engineering, architecture, construction and consulting solutions to the life sciences and food and beverage industries, has welcomed Kris Desmet as its new senior director of client services for SlateXpace.
Desmet is a veteran engineering leader who has worked in several positions throughout the life sciences and beverage industries. His previous roles include the head of engineering at Takeda’s manufacturing site in Thousand Oaks, CA, where he oversaw a team of 120 people responsible for the entire suite of project and operations activities and maintenance.
SlateXpace is CRB’s platformed modular solution, enabling multi-modal manufacturing with agile, adaptable and scalable suites. Desmet will ensure that these modules integrate seamlessly into client operations. He will also focus on incorporating owner’s needs related to automation, commissioning, qualification, validation, start-up and maintenance into the development of the SlateXpace platform.
“I am extremely delighted to be joining CRB and taking on this new role because it allows me to pursue my passion of driving innovation to support the patient community,” Desmet said. “I’ll be able to leverage my operational background to significantly improve the client experience, provide faster project delivery and generate greater flexibility and value for clients.”
Sam Kitchell, senior VP of emerging business operations at CRB, said it’s a part the company’s commitment to better serve its customers.
“We are hearing loud and clear the desire for greater speed, flexibility and repeatability from their investments and more complete service offerings,” Kitchell said. “Kris’ background leading engineering inside life sciences manufacturing companies for both capital project work and ongoing operations gives him a deep understanding of clients’ business needs and significant insight into the key success factors for delivering and operating technically complex facilities.”
