MANUFACTURING
St.Gallen OPEX Benchmarking for Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Sites Measure yourself against the best but do it right
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An understanding of own performance compared to a meaningful peer group is key to launch and sustain the Operational Excellence (OPEX) journey. The St.Gallen OPEX Benchmarking approach supports companies in that undertaking. This article illustrates how it differs from other benchmarkings and takes a look at the historical development of OPEX in pharma. Grothkopp, M., Pirrone, L., Friedli, T. University of St.Gallen
ompared to other industries, the history of OPEX in the Pharmaceutical Industry is a relatively short one (Friedli & Werani, 2013). Starting in the early 2000s, pharmaceutical companies began to introduce OPEX methods and tools because of rising cost pressure, the productivity crises in R&D, and the end of the traditional blockbuster business model. These developments, in combination with a push of regulatory authorities to apply as much science to production as to discovery, led to further investments into OPEX activities (Friedli et al., 2013). As more and more pharmaceutical companies reported their OPEX success stories, learning from industry practices and company specific approaches turned into a valuable source for own improvements. Accordingly, the investigation of OPEX success factors became a focal point of the St.Gallen research since 2003. The St.Gallen Model for Operational Excellence, which was presented in the article The Link between Plant Performance & Maturity – Seeing the whole picture, has been continuously further developed. Based on that model,
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