Our Experience: Manufacturing

Opportunity…

One of the plants of a global pharmaceutical company had been struggling with cost and customer service issues. It was deemed the worst performing plant in the company’s manufacturing network and was at the top of the list of plants being considered for closure.

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Approach…

We deployed a small team to conduct an assessment of the opportunities for improvement.

• The team identified more than a dozen major initiatives to drive improvements in cost and services levels.
• The initiatives were prioritized and structured in 4-month long waves to quickly drive changes in the client’s operating structure and create momentum.
• Each wave was structured to also serve as a development opportunity for client’s employees who then took leadership roles in subsequent waves.

We deployed small teams to support early implementation waves, by the 4th wave our team was composed of two Subject Matter Experts.

• Implementation waves were structured with co-leaders, one client employee and an OQSIE consultant.
• We adjusted the composition of the consulting team for each to align with the support the client needed for the particular initiatives being tackled in that wave.

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Outcome…

By the end of wave 3, a year after the assessment was completed, the client had:

• Reduced the conversion cost by 25%, proceeded to reduce it by another 10% points by the end of year 2.
• Increased Manufacturing productivity by 40%.
• Increased throughput by 50%, eliminating the need to invest $5 million in new capital equipment.
• By the end of year 2, the plant had become the best performing plant in the company’s network. Many of the management team members were deployed to other plants to duplicate their accomplishments.

Opportunity…

An aseptic manufacturing plant for a global pharmaceutical company had been struggling to keep up with market demand and was shorting the market of life-saving products and found itself in the public eye as a result. 

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Approach…

• We deployed a small team of Master Blackbelts to conduct an assessment of the opportunities for improvement. 
  • The team identified close to a dozen major initiatives to drive improvements in manufacturing performance and quality.
  • Product and process variability were identified as major drivers for the high number of deviations the plant was generating every week.
  • The team identified the need to better understand the drivers of product and process variability.
  • The initiatives were prioritized and structured to be addressed using the DMAIC framework.

• We deployed a small team of Blackbelts to lead the various initiatives.
• We designed and implemented a strong governance process to enable the teams to move quickly (this had been a major stumbling block in previous efforts at this plant).

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Outcome…

• Six months after the assessment was completed, the client had:
  • Increased throughput by 25%
  • Reduced the number of deviations by 33%
  • Covered major shortages of life-saving products

• Twelve months after the assessment was completed, the client had:
  • Increased throughput by 40%
  • Reduced the number of deviations by 50%
  • Increased manufacturing productivity by 50%
  • Fully supplied the market with all products and built-up appropriate safety stock levels

1. A Program Manager led the PMO for a global medical device company supporting lifecycle management (e.g., retirements & replacements program).
2. A Program Manager led the PMO for a contract manufacturer through a major initiative to improve capacity and business processes to accept a significant number of new products from their customer’s manufacturing network.
3. A small team of a Statistician and a Process Engineer helped to identify the drivers of process variability for a manufacturer of injectable products.
4. A Senior Project Manager led a process reliability initiative, identified and remediated root causes, and transferred knowledge to client staff.
5. A small team of a Process Engineer and a Formulation Expert supported a global Pharma client to identify and remediate process and product variability issues on a solid oral dose product.
6. We supported a client with an interim maintenance manager for a manufacturing facility to improve service levels and reduce unscheduled down time until the full time role was filled (this was an initiative the client felt couldn’t wait for the full time person to arrive).
7. A Blackbelt helped to reduce response times for the Label Change group of a fast-growing medical device company.
8. A Blackbelt led a project to reduce set-up time of several fill-finish lines for a vaccine manufacturer.