Sterling Snapshot | Molly Monahan, Production Supervisor

Molly Monahan joined the Sterling team in January 2025 as a Production Supervisor at our dedicated bioconjugation facility in Deeside, Wales.

Can you describe your background and education?

I went to the University of Manchester where I studied Biomedical Science. This was a four year degree and included an industry placement year, where I worked as a Medical Laboratory Assistant at a local hospital.

Once I finished my degree, I joined a small start-up business as a GMP Cell Therapy Technician, supporting the development and manufacture of treatments for melanoma patients. I went into a Senior Technician role, followed by Manufacturing Supervisor. I stayed here for about seven years before joining Sterling’s Deeside facility in January 2025 as a Production Supervisor.

What does your role as Production Supervisor at our Deeside facility involve?

I support with day-to-day operations at the facility. The role is very varied depending on what is going on at the time. If we are in batch, my main responsibilities are supervising production, leading operations, coordinating various activities including clean up and prep, and being the point of contact for any escalations.

Outside of this, I’m generally managing activities to enhance and maintain the facility. This includes cleaning, any maintenance required, equipment qualifications, and training. Part of my role is to also ensure that everyone within the team is happy and knows exactly what their priorities are day in, day out to ensure we meet and exceed our customers’ expectations.

What are some of our key capabilities at the Deeside facility to support ADC manufacturing?

Our people are our biggest asset at the site. We have a large process development team with lots of experience, and they’re great at communicating with the manufacturing team to ensure we have exactly what we need to be successful. We have considerable experience across a variety of disciplines at the facility, which demonstrably supports our client projects’ success.

We are currently expanding our facility, which includes the development of a second manufacturing suite. This is a really exciting time for the organisation, as it will massively increase our current capabilities and capacity, and allow us to support a broader range of customers.

Being the supervisor in the manufacturing function, I liaise directly with customers, supporting them with any questions they may have about production or processing and supporting customer audits. I do this alongside leading on manufacturing projects.

How important is collaboration in your role?

Collaboration is very important in my role, and across the site and Sterling network. You can’t make a batch without collaborating with other departments, or sometimes even facilities, and so it’s important that partnership is established from the very start.

As soon as we are awarded a project, discussions begin between manufacturing and process development to understand what the customer’s  requirements and objectives are, so we can hit the ground running. We then go on to liaise with quality assurance for documentation; quality control for testing materials for release, and maintenance to make sure all required equipment is calibrated and qualified.

It’s important we can collaborate well as a site in order to ensure the process runs smoothly for the client and is successful.

What is your favourite part of working at Sterling?

What excited me most about the role was that, working for a contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO), every project you are part of is different. It’s exciting to work with a range of customers, and you’re always learning something new. The science is all very exciting too.

The people at Sterling are always very willing to help you, and everyone goes above and beyond for one another. I’ve had a lot of support since joining the team, and it gives you a lot of pride working in an environment like that.