CULTURAL SHIFT HELPS DRUG FIRM BREATHE EASIER

Bosses of hard-pushed Nottinghamshire manufacturing firms might be forgiven for dismissing a prescription to change their work culture as the most obvious option for reducing overheads and improving their state of health.

But the director of a leading speciality pharmaceutical company, with a base in Nottingham, still feeling the financial benefits of altering the way its staff approach their work, would beg to differ.

Janet Worrell, operations director at Vectura Group plc in Ruddington, explained: “About 18 months ago research staff asked me to sign off on the purchase of some expensive testing equipment. But I wanted us to begin solving problems without thinking that throwing more money at it would always be the answer.

“It’s about finding a balance between the need for equipment for project work and getting the best value out of the resources you already have. So I challenged my team to find an alternative.”

The Government-funded Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) had successfully worked on a project with Vectura’s Chippenham head office to streamline part of its operation.

“We were interested in lean manufacturing and wanted to find out how its principles

might apply to and benefit our site. That’s when we got in touch with East Midlands MAS,” said Janet.

“The 10-day project had a significant impact on our bottom line immediately, cutting down the time taken to carry out one test by nearly a quarter and reducing wasted time spent on activities such as moving between the different labs to find the correct equipment to use, waiting for equipment to become available and filling in unnecessary paperwork.

“But it’s had far greater benefits beyond just the substantial cost savings, signalling the beginning of a cultural shift for our company. It might sound grandiose, but I guess you’d say it’s been the catalyst for revisiting the whole approach to the way we work.”

MAS practitioner Lisa Turner firstly reviewed the current set-up used for processing two representative tests carried out on a particular product across five laboratories where it was thought the more costly equipment was needed.

Working with an eight-strong project team from the lab, Lisa mapped the value added at specific stages and identified where further efficiencies could be introduced.

Vectura employs 105 people in Nottingham, mainly graduate scientists, developing a range of inhaled therapies designed principally for treating respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). 

“The results of this exercise were very revealing. For example, the walking distance to transfer a drug from one test to another was nearly a mile. Staff were spending a lot of time waiting to use specific equipment and collection of data was sometimes being duplicated,” Lisa said.

She then trained the team on some of the lean tools they could use to make improvements, which included reorganising and managing the work space and work flow to improve productivity.

The thinking behind lean manufacturing is to eliminate waste and activities which don’t add value and which the customer is not willing to pay for. This Japanese philosophy, used by Toyota in the 1990s, helped transform it from a small company into the world’s largest automotive manufacturer.

Certain equipment was pivotal to the testing process, so four self-contained workstations were designed around it.

“After this exercise had been carried out, it was found that only a minimal amount of new equipment was actually needed.  We bought two weighing balances,” said Janet.

“But the savings went well beyond a reduction in spend. In just the first six months after MAS’s help, we had cut down the unit processing time for these tests by nearly 25%. We were getting more efficient use out of the testing facilities from all teams of analysts using the space and the work environment was noticeably more harmonious as staff felt the positive effects of having cleaner and tidier workbenches.”

The team which worked on this project with MAS has now gone on to make similar improvements to four of Vectura’s other laboratories.

Janet said: “The key was getting buy-in from staff and from day one MAS involved them in understanding the whole lean improvement process and the benefits it could bring. This is what has motivated them to apply these principles of change elsewhere in the business. We have lean champions whose role it is to maintain the momentum and look for ways to continuously improve the way we work.

“It might not sound like rocket science, but how often do we actually stop and really examine whether we’re working as efficiently as we can. And with so many manufacturers really feeling the pinch at the moment, I don’t think there’s been a better time to start.”

For more information about how MAS can help your business, call 0845 2707620 or

visit  www.mas-em.org.uk