Pharmaceutical Manufacturing and Health Information Technology

Abstract

Pharmaceutical companies are seen as slow in adopting principles of operation excellence and advanced technologies. This article aims to explore the reasons why an industry, recognized as profitable and intensive in capital and science, is reluctant to implement emerging technologies and management tools capable of improving its operational performance. Operational excellence incorporates the fundamentals of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) methodology to the organizational culture and strategic management of companies. LSS is also known as the most used approach in continuous improvement programs in the industrial segment. Despite being a methodology used for many years, LSS continues to evolve, incorporating new trends such as data science technologies, which significantly maximize LSS results. Applying LSS integrated with I4.0 can generate essential information for the organization's decision makers through data identification, extraction, and analysis. In this sense, information technology is a strong ally of operational performance management in the pharmaceutical industry.