Pharmaceuticals

Pharmaceuticals and medical product manufacturers are required to work within a set of constraints unique to the sector, including:

• Conforming to governing bodies such as the FDA
  
• The bias towards R&D and marketing
  
• The threat/opportunities of generics
  
• Patent deadlines
  
• High customer service levels – essential to avoid wasting years of development investment

It can be tempting for the industry to excuse inefficient processes and blame these constraints. It is not particularly controversial to say that, from a pure lean manufacturing perspective, this sector does not perform at the same level as, for example, the automotive industry. It may, however, be controversial to believe, as Newton does, that this sector can perform at that level.

SD&S works with pharmaceuticals and medical product manufacturers to provide specific, measurable, operational improvements which include: increasing productivity, reducing wastage, managing inventory, and reducing operational costs.