Deep Dive: The Pharmaceutical Expansion Plan and Re-Plan

Our pharmaceutical client needed to double tablet production – but the disruption caused by manufacturer delays would need some expert support…

JPH’s work on this particular project began in 2016. Our client – a UK-based pharmaceutical manufacturer – needed to double their output of tablets and planned to do this by duplicating the equipment and procedures they already had in place. The main features of this equipment were a drum blender and hoist, and a tablet compression machine – with all of the installation, compliance and safety standards that those intricately-calibrated devices require.

This type of installation requires detailed analysis, quality assurance and tight project management: every key part must be manufactured, tested and installed to the highest standards, as there is no room for error. Lacking the resources to dedicate to this project themselves, they approached us to take on delivery, and all that would entail.

Despite the challenges that the supplier delays presented, we were able to double tablet production to all of the vital industry and safety standards required. With monthly stakeholder meetings, and weekly project team meetings with the client as well, we were able to give them the reassurance and confidence they needed that the project would be delivered – with all the due diligence and close supplier management that we brought to the project as well.

That successful production has continued since this project concluded in 2017 – and our relationship with that client has continued as well, as we deliver larger and even more complex production line projects, and act on their behalf as liaison with machine manufacturers.

Deep Dive: The Packing Production Puzzle

When demand outstrips supply, there are several paths to take. This is how we solved the Packing Production Line Puzzle…

Our client is a major manufacturer, and a new customer preference in packaging was becoming a trend they couldn’t ignore. Sales of their product sold in packets, rather than traditional boxes, were far outstripping the others; and they needed to boost the numbers of packet products to meet that demand. Our client knew they would need to make changes within their production lines to address this, along with some other issues to solve. Here’s a breakdown in summary of the puzzle in front of them:

• Product A: High demand for packets over boxes, with obsolete box machinery. Unsuitable cases requiring unnecessary repackaging.
• Product B: Lower sales than product A and distributed only in the UK produced with outdated packet machinery in need of replacement.
• Increasing packet demand with no way to change the existing production line pack mix to meet that demand.
• No room to install any new equipment alongside the current lines.

These were the problems to solve. With no room for extra packing lines, the client planned to replace Product A’s line with new machinery that would both solve the case problem, and increase packet production capabilities. They also proposed a replacement to Product B’s line machinery at the same time – so two full-scale line replacements, with a notional budget of £5million to achieve them.

From the earliest stage of knowing a change was needed, JPH were able to offer objective, expert  support for decision-making, followed by a fully managed installation service. Our clients could have 100% confidence that their major investment would return the greatest benefit to them, and that their new equipment was installed to all industry standards – without needing to have any of that expertise in-house.