Last updated: September 22, 2026
Why Work With MEPSCo
96+ Projects. One Process.
Every project runs through the same 8-step GAMP process with 22 proprietary document types, refined across 96+ equipment procurement and validation projects at companies including Hologic, Philips Medisize, and multiple CDMOs.
Your Side of the Table
MEPSCo isn’t an automation vendor. We sit on the manufacturer’s side, write the specs the vendor builds against, and manage the project from requirements through qualification. Independent documentation. No conflicts of interest. No change orders.
Senior Expertise. No Overhead.
A fractional automation engineer gives you 25 years of pattern recognition on a project basis. No $180k+ salary. No 60–120 day hiring delay. No attrition risk when the project ends. MEPSCo does the work, trains your team, and gets out. Some manufacturers search for this as automation consulting or fractional manufacturing engineering. It’s the same senior-level engagement.
Selected Experience: Medical Device and CMO
Selected Experience: Automation Companies
Selected Experience: Parts Manufacturers
Medical Device Manufacturing Expertise
Medical device manufacturers scaling from manual to automated production, upgrading aging lines, or transferring an R&D process into manufacturing hit the same wall: the senior automation engineering experience isn’t on staff. MEPSCo fills that gap as a fractional automation engineer.
Whether your team is looking for an automation consultant, an automation engineer, or a manufacturing engineer for this work, the deliverable is the same.
Book a Manufacturing Automation AssessmentProcurement
Specification development, vendor selection and scoring, budgetary URS, and project management following the GAMP process with full documentation. The spec prevents the surprise.
Qualification
FAT, SAT, engineering studies, and IQ/OQ/PQ execution. Every requirement traced from URS through validation. Documentation built for FDA scrutiny, not assembled after the fact.
Commissioning
Equipment installed, configured, SOPs written, junior engineers trained. Knowledge transfer is a deliverable, not an afterthought. When the equipment is validated and running, MEPSCo moves on.
Experience with Equipment
Across 96+ medical device manufacturing projects, MEPSCo has worked on a diverse range of specialized machines. That experience covers the entire process, from procurement through qualification, augmenting your engineering team with battle-tested experience.
Filling Lines
- Parts handling
- Fill / Capping / Torque
- Pumping technologies
- Vision inspection
- Data acquisition
- Reports
MEPSCo wrote the URS for the scale-up from a 70 PPM filling machine to a 200 PPM line, then used it to qualify vendors and select the automation partner. The San Diego machine was finished with no change orders, in record time.
Read the Case Study
Monoblock 70 PPM
High speed filling
Assembly
- Parts handling
- Web handling
- Leak detection
- Vision inspection
- Cutting / punching
- Welding technologies
Before a single automated machine was ordered, MEPSCo ran Proof of Principle and Proof of Concept studies that increased manual throughput from 1,000 to 5,000 caps per shift with the same operators, then wrote the URS for the first assembly machine.
Read the Case Study
Assembly machine (80 ppm)
Small Fill System
- Table top fill process
- Odd-shaped container
- Foamy Reagents
- Barcode scan to start
- Duplicate Barcode search
- Scale fill control
- Constant head pressure
A Carlsbad CMO needed two units to fill an odd-shaped bottle with a foamy reagent. Working with a partner engineer, MEPSCo delivered both units within the two-month deadline, and the custom process and nozzle filled just over a liter in under the required 60 minutes.
Read the Case Study
Labeling
- Peel and place
- Printing
- Inspection
- Backing cut and disposal
On a 200 PPM continuous line, roll changes cost 10,000 parts of lost production in an 8-hour shift. MEPSCo worked with its labeler supplier to design and implement tandem roll replacement, which, combined with backer chopping, eliminated labeling-related stoppages on that line entirely.
Read the Case Study
Intermittent motion
Continuous motion 200 PPM
Process Development
- Process skids
- Suspensions
- POP / POC
- Prototyping
- Fill studies
- Process development
Reza Bashar designed and developed a custom continuous suspension mixing and filling process — a pump and valve skid, tanks, a mixer, and a flow-through reservoir. Keeping the suspension in continuous motion eliminated bottle pre-weighing and reduced sampling by over 95%.
Read the Case Study
Mag particle suspension and filling
Pump cart for constant head pressure
Lyophilized Bead Manufacturing
- Small scale manufacturing
- Large scale manufacturing
- Bead handling
- Cartridge filling
- Auto fill LN2
MEPSCo wrote the URS for an 8-channel system with separated chambers and a quick changeover feature, then worked with an automation vendor to design an open-tank LN2 level control for the machine. The 8-channel high-throughput system was validated and moved to production.
Read the Case Study
High throughput frozen bead system, auto LN2 level
4-nozzle rotary frozen bead system
Manual cartridge filling tooling
Patents
- Novel solutions to production challenges
- Solving personal injury risk concerns
- New income streams for the company
Seven granted patents cover three processes developed during active project work. They date from our founder’s years on staff as a manufacturing engineer, not from a MEPSCo engagement — MEPSCo neither holds nor earns from them.
The MEPSCo Process
In 2001, Reza was asked to perform a Factory Acceptance Test on a filling machine that had been ordered without a single document. No URS. No specs. No process. That question — “to what document?” — started 23 years of building, testing, and refining a complete GAMP documentation process from scratch.
Whether you need the full lifecycle or one piece of it, the process scales to the project.
What Changes When MEPSCo Runs the Equipment Procurement Project
Six measurable outcomes across documentation, timeline, cost, and team capacity.
Vendor quotes you can actually compare
A properly written URS produces defined, comparable quotes from vendors. No guesswork. No inflated contingency for undefined requirements.
GAMP and cGMP documentation built in, not bolted on
22 document types developed across 96+ projects. Documentation is the core deliverable, not a task handed to someone who wasn’t part of the build.
Your engineering team gets more done, not less
MEPSCo handles the procurement lifecycle so your engineers stay on sustaining activities. No pulling your best people off production to manage a vendor.
Qualification that holds up to audit
IQ/OQ/PQ packages built to FDA standards. Trace matrix from URS through PQ. Named references from quality directors at Hologic and Philips Medisize.
Equipment designed to run, not just pass acceptance
Every design accounts for the operator, the maintenance team, and real-world production conditions. OEE and maintainability are designed in from the URS.
Knowledge transfer when the project ends
SOPs, PM SOPs, training for your junior engineers. Reza works himself out of a job on purpose. The documentation and processes he leaves behind are the deliverable.
Hear It From the People Who Know Us Best
It is my pleasure to recommend Reza Bashar at MEPSCo LLC. During our initial conversation, I was immediately impressed by Reza’s technical knowledge and thoughtful approach to problem solving. Since then, I have seen Reza take entrepreneurial initiative to remain engaged with the latest developments in the automation field. Based on my interactions with him and his reputation within the industry, I am confident that he is a capable and dedicated professional. I would not hesitate to recommend him for roles and/or engagements where his expertise in automation and regulatory know-how would be an asset.
David Rego, P.E., P.Eng.
Senior Technology Executive
“He understands what to address and at what stage of the project to get the best results possible. He made it possible for us to see our way through the issues and properly getting to the validation stage. Everyone on the team was thrilled to have him involved and it seemed like every time he got involved, we were able to get back on track due to his relentless insistence on staying the course and not getting sidetracked on non-value-added efforts.”
Eric Rhine
Director, Manufacturing Operations, Hologic
“He is well versed in all aspects of Automated Projects from mechanical to electrical design, assembly / fabrication methods, and testing. Automated Projects are multi-faceted entities that require the proper guidance for a succesful outcome. Reza has mastered this guidance through the development of protocols from the URS through PQ that state the requirements and test them throughout the duration of the project to ensure project success.”
Jerry Ter Laan
President, Jerit Automation
“Reza is an innovative problem solver who is always in forward motion. He seeks the right solution by looking at the overall big picture as well as the challenge at hand. I believe American manufacturing needs more people like Reza Bashar.”
Lori Yaphe-Delisle
President, Tourmaline Enterprises
“Reza’s deep knowledge and understanding of Automation and GAMP guidelines is also a significant benefit that he brings to the process.”
Dave Carlberg
Cofounder, Kinematic Automation, Inc.
“I have worked with Reza Bashar for over 10 years. Reza has proven to be a very detailed Engineer and has a strong quality focus when seeking out new equipment and equipment vendors. Reza has done a great job in ensuring equipment requirements are well-defined by the end user so that vendors are successful in providing equipment solutions that are thorough and complete.”
Jim Neal
Sr. Director, Operations, Hologic
“I’ve had the pleasure of knowing and working with Reza Bashar at Hologic / Gen-Probe for well over ten (10) years on several difficult projects. His knowledge of the full GAMP process and over 23 years of experience in the Diagnostics industry as well as his out-of-the-box creativity, has made it possible to discover and address possible design flaws much earlier in the process of developing an automated manufacturing line and process.”
James Decker
Manufacturing Engineer III, Hologic
Reza has been a driving force behind numerous high-value automation projects, both on-site and at our contract manufacturer facilities, over the past 15 years. His proficiency in executing Factory Acceptance Tests (FAT), Site Acceptance Tests (SAT), Engineering Studies, Installation Qualifications (IQ), Operational Qualifications (OQ), and Performance Qualifications (PQ) has ensured that our systems meet and exceed regulatory standards, including FDA and GHTF process validation guidance.
Frank Majdi
Director, Quality Engineering, Hologic
It is my pleasure to recommend Reza Bashar and MEPS Co. to any organization seeking a highly capable, dependable, and results-driven partner for automated equipment, filling line development, and manufacturing engineering support. We partnered with Reza and MEPS Co. to build a custom-filling line, and the quality of their product delivered immediate operational benefits and positioned us for long-term reliability. Reza brings a unique blend of technical expertise, structured process discipline, and real-world manufacturing insight. He communicates clearly, respects your time, and comes solutions oriented. His professionalism, integrity, and steady leadership are exactly what customers look for in a trusted supplier.
Confidential — Production Manager, CMO
About Reza Bashar
In 2001, Reza was asked to perform a Factory Acceptance Test on a filling machine that had been ordered without a single document. No URS. No specs. No process.
That question — “to what document?” — started 23 years of building, testing, and refining a complete GAMP documentation process from scratch. 22 document types. 96+ projects. Every document exists because a real project showed what happens without it.
MEPSCo isn’t an automation vendor. Reza sits on the manufacturer’s side, writes the specs the vendor builds against, and manages the project from requirements through qualification. Independent documentation. No conflicts of interest.
Common Questions
What is a fractional automation engineer?
A fractional automation engineer manages the full equipment procurement and validation lifecycle for a manufacturer on a project basis, without the cost or commitment of a full-time hire. You get senior-level experience for the duration of the project, then the engagement ends when the work is done.
Who does MEPSCo work with?
MEPSCo works with medical device manufacturers, diagnostics and IVD companies, and CDMOs that are scaling from manual to automated production, upgrading aging equipment, or transferring an R&D process into regulated manufacturing.
What does MEPSCo actually deliver?
The core deliverable is a validated piece of manufacturing equipment with complete GAMP documentation — URS through IQ/OQ/PQ — plus SOPs and trained internal staff. MEPSCo manages the entire procurement lifecycle: requirements, vendor selection, FAT/SAT, qualification, and knowledge transfer.
How is MEPSCo different from a consulting firm or staffing agency?
MEPSCo isn’t a team of consultants billing hours, and it isn’t a staffing agency sending a resume. It’s one senior engineer with 96+ completed projects who embeds with the manufacturer’s team, runs the project, and transfers out when the equipment is validated and running.
What does a typical engagement cost?
Engagements are priced at approximately 10% of total equipment cost for the first machine, with lower rates for replicate builds. Entry-level engagements start at $10–25k. Full procurement and qualification engagements range from $50–250k+ depending on scope and complexity.
Where is MEPSCo based?
MEPSCo is based in San Diego, California — one of the densest medical device manufacturing clusters in the US. We work with clients nationwide and internationally.
Is a fractional automation engineer the same as an automation consultant?
Yes. Manufacturers search for this work under different titles — automation consultant, automation engineer, manufacturing engineer, equipment engineer. Reza Bashar’s title is fractional automation engineer, but the deliverable is the same: equipment procurement, GAMP documentation, and validation support.
Ready to scope your automation project?
Book a Manufacturing Automation Assessment. No pitch. Just a senior engineer reviewing your requirements.
Experience
96+ completed equipment procurement and validation projects across 25 years. Filling lines, assembly machines, labeling, process development, lyophilized bead manufacturing. From San Diego to international facilities.
Proven Track Record
On-time, on-budget delivery with minimal or no change orders. $150M in equipment validated during COVID for the DOD. Named references from Hologic, Philips Medisize, and Kinematic Automation.
San Diego, CA 92127