How CDMOs Can Make Technology Transfer a Repeatable Capability
Technology transfer is already a core part of how CDMOs operate. Processes, procedures, and teams are in place to transfer new products into manufacturing, move programs from clinical to commercial production, and replicate manufacturing across sites.
But having a process you can repeat isn’t necessarily the same as having a repeatable technology transfer capability.
The difference is how much has to be recreated each time.
If every new program requires teams to reconstruct manufacturing knowledge, author new workflows and recipes, define new system requirements, and rely on individual expertise to fill the gaps, each transfer can still become a resource-intensive project.
As CDMOs scale, the goal should be to capture what the organization learns from each transfer and make it easier to reuse the next time.
That means building technology transfer around reusable manufacturing knowledge, robust templates, defined parameters, and digital processes that can adapt as products, sponsors, and requirements change.
The Real Scaling Problem: Starting From Documentation Instead of Knowledge
Every technology transfer brings a new combination of manufacturing processes, equipment configurations, quality requirements, reporting needs, and customer requirements.
Manufacturing Knowledge Isn’t Always Reusable
Critical manufacturing knowledge may be spread across paper documents, spreadsheets, disconnected systems, or held as “tribal knowledge” by experienced team members.
Teams may have documentation from a previous transfer, but that doesn’t necessarily give them a reusable starting point for the next one.
As the number of products and sponsors grows, that distinction matters. If teams have to rediscover requirements, recreate workflows, or rely on individual experience every time a new program is introduced, technology transfer becomes increasingly resource-intensive.
If manufacturing knowledge has to be reconstructed every time it is transferred, the process may be repeatable – but it isn’t yet scalable.
Build Tech Transfer Around Reusable Manufacturing Templates
Making manufacturing knowledge reusable requires more than documenting a successful transfer. CDMOs need a way to turn proven approaches into a foundation for future programs.
Start From a Proven Foundation
Rather than authoring every new program from scratch, teams can create robust templates around product families or manufacturing processes that share common requirements.
For example, programs using a similar bioreactor configuration or manufacturing process may share workflows, equipment requirements, data needs, and manufacturing system recipes. That proven structure can become the starting point for the next transfer.
The template isn’t intended to make every product or sponsor the same. It captures what is already known and repeatable so teams can focus their effort on what is actually different.
Define What Changes Through Parameters
Defined parameters can account for variables such as batch size, process parameters, equipment configurations, reporting requirements, or customer-specific needs.
Teams can clone an established template and configure those variables for the new program instead of rebuilding the underlying process.
Templatization doesn’t eliminate variability. It provides a more controlled and efficient way to manage it.
Design for Tomorrow’s Requirements, Not Just Today’s Transfer
A successful technology transfer has to meet today’s requirements. But for CDMOs, scalability also means considering what that product may require next.
Clinical programs can progress toward commercialization. Production volumes can change. Different equipment, sites, or manufacturing configurations may be introduced.
A Recent Industry Example Shows What’s at Stake
In August 2026, Bristol Myers Squibb ended its manufacturing agreement with Cellares after determining that Cellares’ automated Cell Shuttle platform could not meet the requirements necessary to manufacture commercial Breyanzi, BMS’s approved CAR-T therapy. The specific requirements behind that determination were not disclosed.
The situation illustrates a broader consideration for CDMOs: successfully supporting a program at one point doesn’t necessarily mean the manufacturing environment will support everything that product may require in the future.
Read the BioSpace article on BMS and Cellares
Build Future Variability Into the Design
CDMOs can’t predict every future requirement. But they can anticipate where variation is likely and consider potential changes in scale, equipment, process parameters, manufacturing paths, reporting, and customer requirements when templates and digital workflows are established.
Where appropriate, those variables can be built into the design as configurable parameters rather than addressed later through entirely new workflows.
The objective isn’t to build for every possible scenario. It’s to create enough flexibility that a change in requirements doesn’t automatically require starting over.
Digitize the Transfer, Not Just the Documentation
Moving technology transfer documentation from paper to digital systems is a step forward, but digitizing documents alone doesn’t necessarily make the underlying transfer more scalable.
The greater opportunity is to capture manufacturing knowledge in a form that can be reused and executed when the next product or sponsor is introduced.
Turn Manufacturing Knowledge Into Executable Processes
Digital manufacturing system recipes and template workflows can capture proven process requirements, execution steps, parameters, data requirements, and controls.
Instead of referencing previous documents to determine how a similar process was executed, teams can start with an established digital foundation and configure it for the new program.
This also reduces reliance on tribal knowledge. What the organization learned during one transfer becomes part of the manufacturing environment rather than remaining with the individuals who executed it.
Create a Centralized Source of Manufacturing Data
When manufacturing information is fragmented across paper records, spreadsheets, equipment, and disconnected systems, teams can spend significant time finding and reconciling what they need.
A centralized digital manufacturing environment makes data easier to access and reuse, while giving manufacturing, quality, engineering, and validation teams a more consistent foundation for introducing new products.
The goal of digital tech transfer isn’t simply to make today’s transfer electronic. It’s to make the knowledge generated during today’s transfer more valuable for the next one.
Common Mistake: Treating Every Transfer as a One-Time Design Effort
A CDMO can have a well-defined technology transfer process and still effectively start over with every new program.
Teams may follow the same SOP and project stages while still authoring new recipes, rebuilding workflows, defining system requirements, and repeating validation work underneath.
Repeat the Process, Not the Work
A more scalable approach is to design the manufacturing environment so proven templates, recipes, workflows, manufacturing data, and validation assets can be carried forward while teams focus their resources on requirements that are genuinely new.
Repeatability isn’t simply doing the same type of project again. It’s designing the operating environment so less has to be reinvented the next time.
What Leading CDMOs Do Differently
The most scalable CDMOs build the processes, technology, and manufacturing foundation that allow each transfer to benefit from what the organization has already learned.
Build Tech Transfer as an Organizational Capability
Leading CDMOs:
- Capture and reuse manufacturing knowledge rather than allowing critical expertise to remain in documents or tribal knowledge.
- Use digital templates, manufacturing system recipes, and centralized data to give new programs a proven starting point.
- Build parameter-driven processes that can adapt across products, sponsors, and manufacturing requirements.
- Plan for future requirements so changes can be accommodated without automatically starting from scratch.
The measure of a scalable technology transfer capability isn’t simply whether you’ve successfully transferred products before. It’s how much of what you learned the last time can be reused the next time.
Build Tech Transfer Into Your Digital Manufacturing Foundation
For nearly four decades, POMS has worked exclusively with pharmaceutical manufacturers and CDMOs to digitize manufacturing execution.
POMSnet Aquila MES provides a foundation for reusable manufacturing recipes, configurable workflows, centralized manufacturing data, and standardized execution across products, sponsors, and sites.
The POMS Validation Kit also provides Operational Qualification (OQ) of the core standard product, giving teams a validated foundation they can build from as new programs are introduced.
If you’re looking to make technology transfer more repeatable and scalable, contact POMS to start the conversation.
