Situation
The client, a large pharmaceutical company was stymied by increasing complexity in their R&D pipeline and an inefficient, outdated approach to technology transfer and new product development & introduction (NPDI). Management realized that current manual processes and siloed organizational structure across new product development and manufacturing were incapable of delivering the required speed-to-market, supply agility and product intelligence. In response, they’d launched several costly initiatives, each targeting a segment of the overall problem. Over time, it became clear that the initiatives’ deliverables were fragmented, sub-optimal and that overall progress was falling behind schedule.
Prescription
Zinata was engaged to support the client’s initiatives and to deliver a seamless, integrated solution for NPDI from early-stage development through to product manufacturing. The client had identified key benefits upon which they desired the initiatives to deliver. They included improved product integrity and consistency; faster time-to-market; enhanced operational agility; improved product and process understanding; and improved analytics and visualization through digitization of key business processes and information. Understanding the overlapping initiative objectives and the underlying complexity of this bold transformation, Zinata and the client reframed the initiatives as a transformational program. We secured executive sponsorship to ensure cross-organizational alignment and to establish a single vision to enable the program’s successful deployment.
Implementation
Zinata’s proposed solution focused on two main components: Standardization and Enterprise Recipe Management (ERM). The established Zinata Standards Framework and accelerators were augmented to suit the client, so they could be readily adopted across its businesses. Interviews and workshops were held to improve clarity of, and to define, the interfaces between the initiatives and functions. It became clear that ERM would provide the common and consistent language and process to knit together the silos, processes and initiatives into a harmonized program. The initiatives were synchronized to minimize redundant efforts and to capitalize on the standards framework and recipe management capabilities.
Outcome
Since our deployment, the client has enjoyed much-strengthened collaboration between R&D and manufacturing through seamless information flows on the new product pipeline. Critical design decisions are now made with real-time input from key partners (R&D, manufacturing, quality, sourcing, etc.) in a collaborative spirit. The value of ERM and a standards framework to technology transfer has helped simplify the process while ensuring a high level of product quality. The client appreciates that adopting standards at the appropriate level and deploying ERM are supportive capabilities, even with their perspective that “all the products are different”. The team is now motivated and enthusiastic to progress all new products through this new, simplified process.