conventional duplicated parallel operations where all processes for a single patient are carried out within a separate room e g redundant duplication of equipment scalability requiring additional space and equipment services description of one possible illustrative embodiment of the scalable cell therapy processing facility is made with reference to fig1 the facility comprises a number of processing cells unit 1 to unit n wherein samples from patient 1 101 to patient n 102 are processed in parallel in separate closed disposable containers within the facility to maintain patient sample integrity and identity at all times a sample s 1 103 containing cells from patient 1 101 is collected in a uniquely encoded disposable container and transferred to unit 1 104 to begin processing unit 1 104 comprises a number of processing stations p 1 1 105 to p 1 n 111 suitable for performing the first step in the cell processing work flow patient sample s 1 103 is processed on processing station p 1 1 105 using a uniquely encoded disposable processing component 1 106 other samples from patient 2 to patient n 102 are processed in parallel with sample n 110 from patient n 102 processed on processing station p 1 n 111 using a uniquely encoded disposable processing component 1 106 following completion of processing in unit 1 sample 1 116 is moved in a closed container to the next processing unit unit 2 107 for the next stage of processing on processing.