Sustaining cost leadership with product excellence

Tapas Kumar Mahapatra, VP-Operations (Daman & Indore), Alkem Laboratories spoke on a very pertinent and interesting topic, ‘Sustaining cost leadership with product excellence’, at Daman Pharma Summit 2023. At the outset of the presentation itself, he established the importance of balancing cost and quality. He pointed out that organisations either tend to overspend to deliver their services or compromise on quality if adequate budgets are not allocated to each function, unless costs are managed properly.

Then, he went on share insights on the economics of innovation and explained how rising operational costs, diminishing returns on products, pricing pressures, changing consumer demands, new entrants in the market etc., affect the growth of life sciences organisations. Emphasising that it is essential to strategise very care- fully to survive and thrive in this dynamic and competitive landscape, he pointed out that bal- ancing cost with product excellence requires integrated systems, optimised processes and packaging solutions that help pharma companies’ to protect and preserve their drugs, he explained about Accuflip, an equilibrium relative humidity (ERH) regulator. Giving more details about the solution, he said that it regulates the ERH to 20±5 per cent RH within the enclosed primary packaging, thereby preventing over-desiccation of capsule cells and protecting the product. He also explained how over-desiccation can adversely affect the efficiency and efficacy of pharma products. best practices.

Speaking further, he pointed out that Accuflip has a specialised sorbent which adsorbs and deabsorbs the moisture at the same time. He elaborated on the relation between water activity and ERH accentuated that active packaging should be used wisely to get optimal outcomes, since the right solution at the right time is really important.

His session covered several vital aspects such the need and approaches to ensure better overall equipment efficiency and measures to control and sustain costs in the long run while enabling quality. Some of the steps recommended by Mahapatra to control costs included integrated lines, mass production, automation, predictive maintenance, multi-skilling, energy management and optimum utilisation of resources.

He also spoke on improving quality for product excellence through steps like effective technology management, cross functional development, supplier quality management, layout optimisation, functional integration etc.

Thus, his session had several takeaways for the audience at Daman Pharma Summit 2023.