Lean's impact is being felt across the board in the pharmaceutical industry -- on the factory floor, in the supply chain and in R&D. But if it seems that the pharmaceutical industry is a little late in jumping on the lean bandwagon, there is a sound economic reason. "In our industry, the cost of goods is relatively small compared to the overall cost structure, so lean hasn't been the burning platform that it has for the automotive and consumer products industries," explains Tim Tyson, a 30-year veteran in the pharma industry and the CEO of Aptuit, a firm providing drug development solutions.

However that platform does seem to be heating up as the industry faces pressure from a number of places. "The industry's need to increase productivity, combined with pressure from the government, is driving companies to turn to lean," says Robert Blaha, president, Human Capital Associates. And lean can be easily applied. "The lean process is perfectly suited to pharma as it is essentially the same as the scientific method," says Tyson. As the scientific method observes a phenomenon, formulates an explanation, predicts results and tests the theory, lean methodology subscribes to these same processes.

Lean processes are helping drive efficiency into pharmaceutical activities ranging from research to the supply chain. Photo: Lundbeck

That might explain why at Pfizer lean found a home in R&D as the company honed in on improvements in the areas of innovation, capabilities and research. "Unlike generic drugs, which are driven by the cost of manufacturing, patented drug costs reside in R&D, clinical trials and sales," says Terence M. Barnhart, senior director, Pfizer Inc. The myriad pathways of getting to market with new compounds, combined with the many people involved and the clinical trials, makes for a complicated process.

"While most of the lean tools have been applied to increasing the speed of repetitive tasks by removing waste, in the area of knowledge the application takes a different track," explains Barnhart. His challenge was how to design the most efficient experiment in order to discover the fastest way to create knowledge. In essence he created a "one-piece flow for the thought process."

The flow of ideas is a direct result of what Barnhart describes as the democratization of innovation. All employees, regardless of job title, become scientists seeking answers. And the tool they employ was formed by adapting value stream mapping to the particular needs of the pharma industry. Barnhart created a process he named critical question mapping. By mapping questions he can supply the knowledge needed to create a project. "Elegant thinking is worth its weight in gold," says Barnhart.

The results were significant. Pfizer cut early development through Phase 1 clinical trials by half in some projects. Additionally, redesigning the work and reducing steps led to improved quality. "High quality work is faster and lower cost," adds Barnhart.

Driving Lean from the Shop Floor

Lowering costs on the plant floor was the impetus for GlaxoSmithKline's lean journey that began 12 years ago. Today 6,500 employees holding green belts are located across the company's 77 plants. "Until you get the tools to the shop floor in a manner that is sustainable, you won't get any traction in your lean journey," explains David Pulman, president, Global Manufacturing and Supply, GSK. "Once employees could see that standard work was making life easier and tasks more productive, they reported a higher level of job satisfaction.

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