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Pharmaceutical Manufacturing and Packing Sourcer
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Lean production has become the latest panacea for how manufacturers are to transform themselves into world class operations. But if it is so easy, why isn't the whole of the pharmaceutical industry already using lean techniques? After all, the theories and principles of lean production are simple and sensible, so what is stopping manufacturers using them effectively to optimise performance?
Lean thinking essentially strives to meet customer requirements by constantly attacking the three enemies: waste, variability and inflexibility. Waste is any activity that adds cost but no value (that is, customers would not pay for it if they were aware of it happening). Variability is any deviation from standard in a process or its inputs, such as materials, people or equipment. Inflexibility is the cost of meeting customer requirements - such as quantity, specification and time - where the production system fails to do so (minimum order size, fixed delivery lead time).
The business benefits of lean production cannot be ignored, and indeed are increasingly well documented. There are many examples of companies which have adopted lean techniques and benefited from improved productivity, less waste or shorter lead times. But, in many cases, these improvements have either not been sustained or have not led on to further improvements, giving rise to some dissatisfaction with lean production in certain quarters of the industry.
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Industry Events |
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4th Annual Patient Recruitment and Retention in Clinical Trials
13-15 October 2008, Amsterdam
Patient recruitment
is now consuming thirty percent of clinical trial time - more time than any
other clinical trial activity - and almost half of all trial delays result from
patient recruitment problems.
As the
recruiting culture becomes more sophisticated and the forces affecting patient
enrollment grow more numerous and complex, pharmaceutical companies are
striving to discover new strategies to facilitate enrollment in clinical
trials.
With
increasing industry pressure to develop, test and market greater numbers of new
drugs faster, pharmaceutical companies need to perform clinical trials as
quickly as possible. Inefficient patient recruitment processes is a formidable
barrier to pharmaceutical companies' success in launching new products.
Improving the patient recruitment process is imperative to avoid wasted
investments and eliminate costly delays in bringing new drugs to market --
today and even more so in the not-so-distant future. Improved patient
recruitment presents one of the largest opportunities for pharmaceutical
companies to eliminate delays in clinical trials, thereby making it possible to
reduce time to market. With patent time limits and large overheads
meaning that any delays in the development timeline can be disastrous, a good
understanding of how to successfully recruit patients for trials is vital for
any company looking to succeed.
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News and Press Releases |
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Biovian expands - and invests in new capacity
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