This research examines a case study on the implementation of an effective approach to advanced Lean Six Sigma problem-solving within a pharmaceutical manufacturing site which manufactures acetaminophen (paracetamol containing pain relief) tablets. Though this study was completed in a single manufacturing company, the implementation of this study delivers important application and results that can be deployed in other such manufacturing companies. The manufacturing site faced backlogs in customer orders due to increased demand. Increased demand is due to brand popularity and recognition, product efficacy and a COVID 19 pandemic that intensified the demand for pain relief tablets in an already very busy site. With increased demand, to ensure timely deliveries, customer satisfaction and minimize delays, sources of site productivity losses and wastes needed to be analyzed and reduced or eliminated. Manufacturing Packaging line downtime was identified as one area of concern. The goal of the research was to introduce a problem-solving technique to reduce downtime within a manufacturing site without affecting the production required to fulfil customer demand while increasing product quality. The research utilized an integrated LSS methodology which identifies, stratifies and effectively eliminates non-value adding (waste) activities, by following a 7-step customized problem-solving methodology which resulted in complete elimination of the issue under investigation and savings of just under half a million dollars. The learnings are being deployed and leveraged worldwide across the pharmaceutical organizations parent site and sister sites. The presented results demonstrated that Lean Six Sigma methodology and tools are effective for accurate root causing of problems and enablers of implementation of continuous improvement.

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Environmental Management Systems (EMS) have been adapted by different agricultural industries to suit their needs and to align with other requirements such as Quality Assurance (QA). There are stronger drivers for EMS in some industries (e.g. seafood and cotton) than others (e.g. broadacre industries such as grains and livestock). This paper explores the issue of facilitating the wider uptake or adoption and diffusion of EMS in the broadacre industries, particularly through assessing the EMS preparedness of these industries, proposing a staged approach and investigating the compatibility between EMS and QA schemes. We explore these themes, based on the national grains EMS pilot projects conducted from 1999 to 2002 and research within the lamb industry. A four-stage approach for EMS and QA alignment is proposed in response to reviewing an evaluation survey conducted with farmers from EMS groups in the grain and lamb industries and through exploration of the compatibility of EMS and QA schemes. Within the four-stage approach, the ISO 14001 certified EMS is the highest level, with the lowest stage comprising on-farm self-assessment and introduction to the concept of EMS. All stages are compatible with ISO 14001. In exploring the relationship between QA and EMS, we found that EMS and many QA schemes that fully comply with Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point principles such as Safe Quality Food are compatible in their philosophy of continuous improvement. This allows farmers to understand, identify and manage the hazards and risks in their business that might impact on food safety, product consistency and the environment. We conclude, in the absence of market drivers, a low level environmental awareness-raising process through self-assessment is likely to be more realistic for broadacre farmers than more complex systems such as ISO 14001.

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