Study the Influence of Lean Principles which Enhances the Operational Excellence in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Abstract

Today most of the pharmaceutical companies particularly the small molecule domain, faces unprecedented challenges of escalating costs, delivering the quality products and innovations within the short term period with increasing competitive pressure from other companies. In other industries, process improvement approaches such as Lean, Six Sigma etc., have delivered the benefits in speed, quality and cost of delivery. In this paper, specific attention is given to the three key points from management point of view is that Very high productivity, Very short lead times and Exceptional product quality for any drug product. Currently, pharmaceutical industry has been slow to adopt the lean manufacturing unlike many sectors where it has been successfully deployed. In fact, Lean and cGMP go hand in hand as quality is sustained at a higher level with lower costs due to lean principles that are applied. This research study attempts to sketch out the scope and implementation ways to implement lean management principles existing in the pharmaceutical manufacturing and thereby improve the quality of products and services. This study adds to the literature by providing background information regarding the current status of lean involvement in quality system in the pharmaceutical manufacturing sectors.