This paper aims to present a methodology for combining lean manufacturing with current good manufacturing processes (cGMP) in a pharmaceutical company.
This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.
Do you believe that cutting back costs leads to inferior product quality? This paper demonstrates that both aims can be achieved by taking lean manufacturing techniques and adding cGMP to build quality into the product as it is produced. The authors demonstrate this by modeling the production line for packaging products in a Trinidadian pharmaceuticals factory. An extensive literature review shows which techniques would be suitable, and how cGMP can be linked to lean manufacturing. The real‐life case study shows how the current‐state value stream map (VSM) can be changed radically into the future‐state VSM in remodeling the cellular production line. So quality can be built into the product while shrinking the space used, the number of staff employed on the production line and the production time. It can be applied in practice throughout the factory and in similar industries.
Pharmaceutical products can be packaged and dispatched much faster, using smaller premises and fewer staff, with a combination of lean manufacturing and cGMP.
High productivity levels will result from low‐cost quality production in a developing country, raising the return on capital and thus increasing social well‐being.
This review introduces a combination of lean manufacturing and cGMP that has not hitherto been applied to pharmaceutical production.
