With a vision to improve

With NEPIC executive and industry support bodies in 7 programme areas, including Manufacturing & Productivity, NGP asked Dr Stan Higgins, CEO of NEPIC, how pharmaceutical companies can gain more value from their operations.

NGP. Instead of growing physically, many companies are looking at collaborations to increase pharmaceutical productivity. How does this help?

SH. The message is slowly getting through that all the bright ideas may not reside within a single company environment. In fact innovation is more likely to occur at the boundaries between companies, particularly if the collaborators have supply chain interests and are not necessarily direct competitors. In these circumstances sharing of technology into platforms becomes more palatable to companies and investors, particularly where supply chain partners can clearly identify the boundaries where their IP is used or generated.

It is well known that turning research into money, the process of innovation, requires up to 65 times more expenditure than the cost of R&D. Sharing this cost burden is a key purpose of collaboration but it is not the main benefit. Learning – to learn from the skills and experiences of others – benchmarking and the capturing of best practice are the main benefits that are gained from collaborative and outsourcing strategies.

NGP. Implementing new manufacturing principles are another attempt of the industry to gain more value from its operations. What are innovative technologies available to the industry?

SH. One of the main advantages of manufacturing pharmaceuticals in the North East of England is that this is one of the world’s leading locations for lean manufacturing as applied within and beyond the conventional automotive and engineering fields. Chemicals, bioprocessing and pharmaceuticals make up 25 percent of the whole regional economy and a further 10 percent arises from the supply chain of the major global automotive manufacturer Nissan. Nissan has their only European car manufacturing facility based at Sunderland and this has repeatedly won the accolade of Europe’s most productive car manufacturing plant. The plant has also attracted over 100 Japanese and supply chain companies of other nationalities to the region. This injection of ‘know-how’ on productive working techniques has lead to the formation of the North East Productivity Alliance (NEPA) through which lean manufacturing techniques have been injected and developed in both traditional and new industry sectors.

The same techniques as have been used in the automobile sector have been adapted and applied to bring real benefit to pharmaceutical manufacturing in the North East of England. Interestingly though there is not a simple-one-size-fits-all approach, inculcating a rote application of continuous improvement tools is never successful in this sector. In this region pharmaceutical companies share best practice through NEPIC and via this collaboration NEPA and PICME engineers have become really expert at recognising which approach to take. The initial analysis that takes place is based on the Master Class Approach, itself based on the expertise of Toyota, Honda and Nissan. This is usually followed up by using techniques and suitable tools to bring about change, such as Kaizan, Policy Deployment, Hoshin Kanri planning, Lean Thinking, Six Sigma, or Ed Zurich’s Practical Process Improvement.

NGP. What are the underlying principles of lean manufacturing?

SH. Lean Manufacturing is about making value flow through an organisation. To be successful it has to involve the whole organisation with committed leadership from the top. Our improvement techniques are all about attention to detail and problem solving ideas which are clearly delivered through team work. The plan-do-check-act process is central to the whole approach and ultimately this becomes the culture of the organisation. Leadership is key and NEPIC and its partners will not commence improvement programmes with companies that do not demonstrate the clear involvement of the organisation’s leaders at all levels.

Vision is critical with leaders believing that there is a compelling need for change. This has to lead to detailed planning activities which identify clear targets and the biggest gains, especially the critical few things that will give significant quick wins. This will inspire everyone to get involved and Hoshin Kanri planning is a useful tool in this respect as it helps to visualise the programme, and most importantly the critical few activities for all staff. Telling people about lean manufacturing and encouraging continuous improvement will never be enough and only by giving the people, who actually do the work, control over the project and resources, will you effect real change.

NGP. How can cycle time be reduced and waste be eliminated?

SH. We have many examples within the NEPIC collaborations where cycle time and waste have been eliminated by pharmaceutical operations. In one operation it was concluded that Single Piece Flow Techniques – adapted from standard mechanical manufacturing operations – saved 11,000 hours of operator time in a single year, increased productivity by 50 percent in a no defects accepted product. The company paid back its investment in time and consultants 50 times in this first year. In another operation nearby, labour usage in product change-over was reduced by half creating time for over 50 extra batches per annum in a tableting facility. Clear bottom line benefits from the application of these improvement techniques and acceptance that best practice can be brought in via collaboration. But remember nothing can be gained without organisational commitment.

NGP. How can low-cost product safety be incorporated?

SH. The many improvement opportunities that have been implemented in the pharmaceutical industry in the North East of England have been achieved without compromising product quality. Indeed the evidence we have is that quality measures have been improved. The application of thorough cGMP principals and commitment to the development of standard operating procedures must be at the core of any improvement programmes used in this sector.

NGP. What are other cost saving strategies?

SH. Productivity improvement through Lean Manufacturing is just one of the tools we have encouraged in our Cluster. We have also created other collaborative opportunities to improve such as Resource Efficiency Clubs. Here we have built up a cadre of expertise in areas such as energy usage, waste elimination and utility reductions that have brought great benefits. In delivering this expertise we have also assisted companies to identify other key issues impacting their business and guided them to appropriate sources of help and support. We have also created a buying club for purchasing of non-core items such as office materials, car hire, telecommunications and safety equipment, which has brought significant benefits to our members. Energy usage is a hot topic at the moment and we are developing ideas on inter company collaborations on new energy sources, combined heat and power plants, wind farms and other communal energy projects.

NGP. How else can pharmaceutical productivity be increased?

SH. Ask yourself how many people in your facility have the responsibility to network regionally, nationally and internationally to identify best practice and build collaborations. Usually when I ask this question at facilities I visit the answer is no one. How can your facility expect to be amongst the best when you don’t even know what the best looks like? Interestingly, we have found the best technique for your factory may not even come from within the pharmaceutical industry. It is clear that continuous improvement techniques are just as valuable in laboratory, logistics and commercial operations as they are in manufacturing.

A vision to improve, an open mind, a collaborative culture and projects driven from the top of the organisation are the best way to begin the journey to becoming the best.

Bio

Dr Stan Higgins is the CEO of NEPIC, representing 200 chemical, fine and speciality, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Higgins has worked in the Process Industries for 36 years. In pharmaceuticals, he has experience in medicinal chemistry and product development, process development and manufacturing with Reckitt and Coleman, Glaxo and Solvay.

Energy usage is a hot topic at the moment and we are developing ideas on inter company collaborations on new energy sources, combined heat and power plants, wind farms and other communal energy projects