Towa International - From local to global: The IKIGAI behind Towa International’s transformation

From local to global:

THE IKIGAI BEHIND TOWA INTERNATIONAL’S TRANSFORMATION P R O J E C T

PA R T N E R

B U S I N E S S I N T E RV I E W

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rom local to global:

THE IKIGAI BEHIND TOWA INTERNATIONAL’S TRANSFORMATION Joan Baylina, Supply Chain Director at Towa International shares insights into the strategy and philosophy behind the company’s global expansion – with added industry perspective from David Peix, CEO.

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Towa P

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Pharma

IN 1951, TOWA PHARMACEUTICAL WAS FOUNDED IN OSAKA, JAPAN, AS A FAMILY-RUN COMPANY MANUFACTURING THERAPEUTIC SOLUTIONS AIMED AT IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF LIFE AND PROMOTING EQUITABLE ACCESS TO MEDICATION. ast forward to 2020, Towa Pharmaceutical entered the global stage when it founded Towa International. This became the company’s international hub, a wellestablished off-patent medicine platform with a commercial presence in Europe and the US and an indirect presence in more than 60 countries – along with a strong R&D+i Center and manufacturing capabilities.

With this expansion, Towa International was born and the company established a new headquarters in Barcelona, Spain.

The onset of this historic internationalisation milestone triggered a

period of transformation in the past three years.

Here to tell us more about the philosophy, strategy and partnerships crucial to the company’s journey since 2020 is Joan Baylina, Supply Chain Director at Towa International.

Joan began his career in the food industry at DANONE, in a variety of manufacturing and supply chain roles. He moved to Nissan, where he spent more than 15 years in various local and global roles of increased responsibility in manufacturing, engineering and technology within supply chain, as Director of Supply Chain Strategy.

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“AT TOWA INTERNATIONAL, WE WORK TO RESEARCH, DEVELOP, MANUFACTURE, MARKET AND DISTRIBUTE GENERIC AND VALUE-ADDED MEDICINES (VAM) THAT CONTRIBUTE TO IMPROVING PEOPLE’S HEALTH” Since 2021, Joan has been the Supply Chain Operations Director for Europe and the US at Towa International. When he arrived at the company, Joan brought with him a strong portfolio of experience in senior management, end-to-end supply chain, manufacturing and engineering operations, alongside a proven performance record in global strategic and cross-functional projects.

“At Towa International, we work to research, develop, manufacture, market and distribute generic and value-added medicines (VAM) that contribute to improving people’s health,” begins Joan. “In turn, our products allow greater availability and better management of treatments for healthcare 6

professionals, supporting the sustainability of health systems in the countries where we operate.

Towa International currently has a direct presence in the United States, Spain, Portugal and Italy, and we distribute our medicines to more than 60 countries through strategic alliances with the firm objective of increasing our international presence to reach the maximum number of patients.

cultural transformation to move from a local manufacturer to becoming a global company.”

So how has the company embarked on its transformation journey in the last three years?

Joan explains there have been three main focuses behind the transformation: strategy, ikigai and people.

“With the birth of Towa International in 2020 we established our new headquarters here in Barcelona and opened a state-of-the-art production plant and R&D+i Center with more than 30,0000m² of facilities – equipped with the sector’s most advanced technology, meeting the highest quality standards. During 2021 we established the foundation on which to build our positioning, essence and values – initiating a full

“For Towa International, its people are the key and vital element for the achievement of its objectives,” says Joan.

“Therefore, we prioritise ensuring opportunities for personal and professional growth in a pleasant and safe environment within an international context. Our purpose as a company ‘to generate true smiles in people’ starts within the internal environment of our company.

For this reason, we know that developing the talent and commitment of our people is a determining factor in achieving our current objectives, but also, and above all, in facing the challenges that the future will bring. The new People and Culture Department of Towa International, has built a totally new company within 3 years 7

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starting with the People model based on Flex and Health.

“Towa International is aware that the People and Culture Department is the foundation of the business’s success and is one of the main strategic components of the company.

During the last three years, we have worked on some essential bases such as People Policies and we have taken several steps towards developing our work model where we promote a culture based on respect, self-responsibility, ethics and flexibility where people choose to stay. These values will enable us to grow our business in a sustainable and responsible manner, always keeping people’s health and well-being at the centre of our priorities.”

The company’s focus on its people cannot be understood without appreciating the historic Japanese philosophy Towa International champions in its operations: ikigai. The concept of ikigai refers to a motivating force, reason for living or sense of purpose.

At Towa International, the company’s ikigai is dedicated to promoting the health of 9

as many people as possible and generating genuine smiles.

With people and philosophy front and centre, Towa International embarked on its transformation journey in 2020 by expanding its presence in Spain while consolidating the company’s core strategy for manufacturing, supply chain and R&D. This entailed introducing innovation and digitalisation throughout the company’s supply chain processes, from beginning to end.

“We want to be an active player contributing to the international 10

sustainability of health systems by providing high-quality medicines,” says Joan. “Our transformation unfolded at our plants, in the supply chain, within our R&D efforts and through forging strategic alliances.

“We began our journey by opening the new headquarters and R&D+i Center in Barcelona, where we established our Excellence Center for research and development of innovative modified-release medicines. Here, we focus on developing new products in their initial stages before manufacturing batches for clinical studies in

“WE WANT TO BE AN ACTIVE PLAYER CONTRIBUTING TO THE INTERNATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY OF HEALTH SYSTEMS BY PROVIDING HIGH-QUALITY MEDICINES”

our pilot plant. Once we receive approval to produce investigational drugs from both the Spanish authorities and the FDA we move on to the registration of the specialties, developed for the different business areas including the commercial subsidiaries in Europe and the United States and for our clients, thus having a worldwide reach.

“Our state-of-the-art manufacturing plant, also here in Spain, is one of the largest facilities of its kind in the country. We equipped it with the sector’s most advanced technology meeting the highest quality standards because in

everything we do, we want to do it in the best way possible.

We comply with the Correct Manufacturing Standards of the European Union (EU-GMP), as well as equivalent guidelines such as the ICH, EMEA Guidelines and Guidance for Industry (FDA) among others.

“We want to be an active player contributing to international sustainability – we are increasingly aware of sustainability and of growing and acting in a sustainable way. In 2022, we increased our investment in our dedicated photovoltaic installation to ensure our facilities are supplied with renewable, green energy – moving us away from relying on the carbon industry. It was originally built in 2015 and is one of the largest of its kind in Spain.”

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Beyond these significant investments in facilities, Towa International incorporated innovation and digitalisation into its supply chain as part of the transformational journey.

“We have structured all the processes within our supply chain”, says Joan. “It begins at our plants and ends with customers, including everything in between such as our warehouses, distribution centres and more.”

As Joan explains, there are three main axes to the innovation and digitalisation of the supply chain at Towa International. The first axis is the digitalisation of all internal processes, but also how the company engages externally. The second axis is digital integration across all Towa’s global sites. The third axis is securing endto-end visibility to improve performance and ensure the company is providing the best service possible to customers and patients.

“The first axis began with trying to understand and 12

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manage the data that we have in our plants,” says Joan. “Using the Internet of Things (IoT) we started to connect all our facilities, general maintenance equipment, rooms, climate areas, office, lights, air – all to be connected so we have all the data in our hands. Once we 14

achieved the full digitalisation of our internal processes and assets, we started our process to digitise the supply chain. We now know exactly where medicines are in the process, we can see the qualities and we have full oversight of the parameters in place at our plants.

“For us, the manufacturing plants needed to adapt with a longer strategic vision in mind, based on five priorities: sustainability, flexibility, speed, technology and personalisation. With these five priorities, we achieved a system where at anytime, anywhere,

we offer a compelling value proposition and a seamless consumer experience. We improved our plant management, flexibility, real-time control and quality inspection. In short, we created a smart plan and fully integrated it into our supply chain.

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“Once we had our internal process digitalised, we started looking beyond the plants and our facilities,” says Joan.

“Beginning with the inbound materials and stock, we looked towards the different components arriving at the plants so we could manage this aspect of the supply chain effectively through digitalisation.

We then extended this to our deliveries and distribution

to facilitate global connectivity.

The objective of the second axis was to review, collaborate, plan, organise and implement integration. Together with Seidor we built a global solution for our systems, processes, procedures, workflow reporting and tools to create a synergy among all the Towa entities around the world.

We wanted to promote and create a cohesive collaboration environment where all our sites

“TOGETHER WITH SEIDOR WE BUILT A GLOBAL SOLUTION FOR OUR SYSTEMS, PROCESSES, PROCEDURES, WORKFLOW REPORTING AND TOOLS TO CREATE A SYNERGY AMONG ALL THE TOWA ENTITIES AROUND THE WORLD” systems. We are getting close to our mission which is to have digitally connected plants, parts, people and processes.”

Once Towa International had all its internal processes digitalised, the next phase was to roll out digital integration to all its sites around the world.

“The second axis in our journey has been business integration”, says Joan. “Here Towa worked with its partner Seidor, a local data and technology consultant, 16

would be working together.

Seidor demonstrated great flexibility and agility to adapt with us as we embarked on not only our technical transformation but our cultural transformation as well.

“With this second axis, the point is to bring everyone together and make sure we are working in the same way. When we share these corporate capacities and synergies across the company, we can offer a tailor-made service to our clients and

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maximise our reach with patients.”

By unifying the systems at Towa International in the second axis, the company paved the way for pursuing its third axis: end-to-end visibility.

“The third axis of our innovation and digitalisation plan has been focused on our supply chain operations, taking them from being a transactional system to a digital operation,” says Joan. “The goal is more than full process digitalisation or deploying the latest technology.

Our objective is to be able to harmonise, improve common processes, increase automatisation, be more efficient and have more reliable information so we can make better business decisions. The overarching ambition is simultaneously improving the performance of the endto-end value chain through planning and orchestrated synchronisation at all levels, avoiding horizons and silos.

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“Towa operates in 20 therapeutic areas with more than 200 products. Without digitalisation and innovation transforming our processes, combined with the support of our partners Seidor, we would never have achieved full integration. Now we have met this goal, we have full visibility of our supply chain network from tier 1 and tier 2 all the way to pharmacies and patients in hospitals.”

Wrapping up our conversation, Joan reiterates that Towa’s transformational journey from a local to an international company in only three years is a tremendous achievement.

“For us, this is the most important thing to celebrate – we are now preparing to arrive on the global stage, and this is an incredibly exciting new chapter for us in the history of the company,” concludes Joan.

For further information and to learn more about Towa International, visit towainternational.com.

INTER-INDUSTRY INSIGHTS When Joan moved from the automotive to the pharmaceutical industry, he embarked on his own learning and research journey to immerse himself in his new sector.

“I find it empowering and motivational to read into the pharmaceutical industry, attend talks or conferences and watch informative documentaries about the latest conversations or innovations in the field,” says Joan. “I throw myself into enriching my knowledge because it not only helps me in my job, but I find it fascinating”.

Turn the page and read on for added insights from David Peix, CEO of Towa International.

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Final thoughts

FROM THE CEO David Peix, CEO of Towa International, provides his perspective on the company’s growth and how it is tackling challenges in the pharmaceutical industry.

n the world of pharmaceuticals, where innovation and accessibility are crucial, Towa International reaches millions of patients in search of affordable, quality medications.

Joined three years ago with Japan's Towa Pharmaceutical, one of the largest generics and valueadded medicines companies in Japan, Towa International emerged as part of a bold global expansion plan. Today, it stands as the international hub and as a symbol of the company’s dedication to improving global healthcare. Operating globally, including its American affiliate, Breckenridge Pharmaceutical, three Mediterranean affiliates, a B2C and a B2B business unit. Towa International places a strong commitment to high standards of quality and strict compliance 20

with local regulations where it operates.

Its ikigai, purpose, is to contribute to people's health and generate genuine smiles by ensuring equitable healthcare access for all. Furthermore, the company is deeply committed to sustainability, recognising the importance of environmental responsibility in its operations.

Towa International’s commitment extends beyond supplying generic drugs. The company embraces a holistic approach to integrated health improving people’s physical, emotional and social well-being – a vision that guides all its efforts.

CHALLENGES

Despite its progress, the pharmaceutical industry,

“TOWA INTERNATIONAL, THE INTERNATIONAL COMPANY OF TOWA PHARMACEUTICAL, IS A GUIDING FORCE TRANSCENDING BORDERS TO IMPACT GLOBAL HEALTHCARE WHILE ADVOCATING SUSTAINABILITY PRINCIPLES”

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particularly the generic drug sector, faces several challenges.

One of the principal concerns is a complex supply chain. The pharmaceutical supply chain is intricate, heavily regulated and susceptible to disruptions. Ensuring a consistent medication supply while navigating global logistics complexities is challenging.

Also, overseas active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) production where many pharmaceutical companies, including Towa International, rely on APIs produced outside Europe, exposing them to geopolitical uncertainties and supply chain vulnerabilities.

There is still a long way to go to harmonise and standardise regulation among different markets. An increase in harmonisation will improve access to medicines and reduce the pressures on the supply.

Price is also important, as are surging demand levels. When the demand for medicine increases, generic medications are the only alternative to guarantee the sustainability of the health systems.

However, generic medication cannot only be perceived as 22

price modulators. The different stakeholders will need to find the right balance between affordability and sustainability.

OUR RESPONSE

Despite current industry challenges, Towa International remains committed to global healthcare advancement, sustainability and it has taken proactive measures like forging a resilient supply chain. Towa International invests in a resilient supply chain by diversifying sourcing strategies to mitigate risks and avoiding placing price as the only selection criteria in its operations.

It is important for the company to meet its aspiration of investing around 8 per cent of its net sales in research and development to increase its portfolio. Towa R&D developments are always designed

cost-efficient production methods and operational optimisations.

And as one of the main pillars for Towa, the company’s commitment to sustainable practices includes implementing environmentally responsible measures in its operations, such as reducing waste and carbon emissions, while simultaneously providing equal opportunities to all its employees and embracing diversity as a competitive factor. with a global mindset to reach the maximum number of patients.

As Towa operates globally, it prioritises regulatory compliance with dedicated teams and close collaboration with global regulatory authorities to ensure the highest standards of quality and safety.

Towa invests a considerable number of resources in the digitalisation of its processes and quality assurance system to ensure a consistent response to ever-increasing regulatory requirements.

Regarding the price pressure, Towa believes in affordability initiatives. That means the company never compromises quality for cost. Efficiencies are reached by economies of scale and the company actively participates in initiatives to maintain competitive pricing through

In conclusion, Towa International, the international company of Towa Pharmaceutical, is a guiding force transcending borders to impact global healthcare while advocating sustainability principles. Founded to improve healthcare access, it operates independently worldwide with a holistic approach to well-being.

Furthermore, Towa International's dedicated team, comprising almost 1,000 people, diligently pursues its ikigai – the intersection of passion, skill, societal needs and economic viability. This companywide commitment adds inspiration to its mission of advancing global healthcare through innovation, accessibility and sustainability.

David Peix, CEO of Towa International 23

towainternational.com

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