Improvement of manufacturing operations at a pharmaceutical company

Abstract

PurposeThe current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) are followed in the pharmaceutical sector to ensure that products are consistently produced and controlled to the appropriate quality standards as required by the marketing agencies. The purpose of this paper is to share improvement experiences due to implementation of lean principles combined with cGMP in a pharmaceutical company.Design/methodology/approachTo conduct the study, an intensive review of literature has been conducted. For analysis of the problems existing in the selected production line, the 5‐whys methodology was followed. The current state value stream map (VSM) has been developed after making several company visits and necessary computations. For improvement of the system, various lean strategies have been proposed and the future state VSM developed.FindingsThe methodology assisted this company in reducing lead times, cycle times and WIP inventory in the manufacturing process. Furthermore, the storage area was reduced by 38 per cent and production staff was reduced by 50 per cent.Practical implicationsThe prime purpose of a lean strategy is to eliminate wastes and to search for continuous improvement in processes. The proposed lean strategies indicated scope for improvement in production efficiency and effectiveness of manufacturing operations.Originality/valueThe guiding principle of cGMP is that quality is built into a product, and not just tested into a finished product. This paper makes several contributions to the pharmaceutical manufacturing company. The proposed lean strategies are considered to be highly valuable for implementation in similar manufacturing industries.

Lean readiness – the case of the European pharmaceutical manufacturing industry

“…However, despite some evidence of the application of lean manufacturing in the pharmaceutical industry exists, and especially in companies such as Lundbeck, GSK and Novartis (Friedli et al, 2013;O'Rourke and Greene, 2006;Chowdary and George, 2011), there is still no consensus in the academic literature regarding the applicability of lean initiatives in the European pharmaceutical sector, and the capability of the latter to support lean initiatives. In addition, besides the reported cases of LM implementation in the pharmaceutical industry, there is no study in the academic literature that focuses on the exploration of the lean readiness (LR) level of European pharmaceutical manufacturers.…”

“…Reasons behind this fact involve the relatively small cost of goods compared to the companies' cost structure (Selko, 2011) as well as the strict quality standards that characterise the pharmaceutical industry (Chowdary and George, 2011). Similarly as with the overall pharmaceutical industry, European pharmaceutical manufactures remained inert to the lean wave until the start of the 21st century, when big European pharmaceuticals such as Novartis, AstraZeneca and GSK initiated their lean journeys (Chatterjee, 2014).…”

“…Over the past two decades, both manufacturing and service industries have been severely affected by new technological opportunities and challenges, which have set new levels for global, regional, and local competition (Chowdary and George, 2011). As a consequence, the enormous pressure from competitors and customers, in terms of delivering greater value for products and services (Kumar et al, 2006), has prompted manufacturing firms to turn to operational excellence initiatives in order to improve the quality of their products and services while simultaneously reducing manufacturing costs and cycle times (Belekoukias et al, 2014;Arya and Jain, 2014).…”

The Development of a Cleaner Production Model and Applied Management Solutions for the Pharmaceutical Industry

“…In particular, green product innovation minimizes energy consumption, reduces the amount of materials, and prevents pollution [10]. Green production process reduces the amount of materials as well as energy and water consumption, and generates less waste by improving productivity [11].…”

An IoT-Based Solution for Control and Monitoring of Additive Manufacturing Processes

“…At the end of the 20th century, competition growth and the diversity of consumer demands due to globalization resulted in manufacturing processes managed according to indicators of quality, cost, delivery, flexibility, speed and reliability [6].…”