16 - World class manufacturing in the pharmaceutical industry

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the world class manufacturing, which is the continual and rapid improvement in all areas of manufacturing. It is the principle of total quality management applied to the manufacturing environment. For most businesses at the start of the 21st century, particularly those in the developed world, good quality and a reasonable price are taken for granted. They may be considered as order qualifiers or the entry requirements for the race to the customers. It is important; to ensure that a move toward world-class manufacturing leads to an improvement in the overall performance in the company if a competitive advantage is to be obtained. Functional excellence alone can lead to isolation and reduction in overall company performance. The true aim must be for business excellence and hence the first lesson that must be learnt by manufacturing personnel is the development of teamwork with colleagues in other parts of the organization. Single large steps rarely bring about continuous improvement, because problems are rarely due to a single cause. In each of the case studies quoted above, there have been many small improvements - often brought about very cheaply or at no cost at all. It is all those small improvements that combine to bring about a great result.