Speeding Changeover in Pharmaceutical Packaging

Abstract

Pharmaceutical companies increasingly are working to improve productivity and reduce costs in their manufacturing and packaging operations. Expanding markets and innovative marketing strategies have lead to an increased demand in pharmaceutical packaging products. To achieve goals of lower costs, greater flexibility, and increased capacity without substantial investment, pharmaceutical packaging plants are working to streamline their operations by application of lean production and management techniques.

This thesis discusses the background of lean production particularly as it relates to the pharmaceutical industry and presents an actual application in a packaging facility of a global pharmaceutical manufacturer. It describes lean production techniques used to reduce cleanup and changeover time in pharmaceutical packaging operations. The changeover reduction process involved evaluating the process with production associates and developing new standard procedures for performing the changeover. It discusses the unique characteristics of a pharmaceutical changeover and highlights techniques used to deal with potential issues within a pharmaceutical operation. The resulting changeover time was reduced by 65 percent resulting in dramatically increased capacity without addition of facilities, capital investments, or negative impact upon product or process quality.