Manufacturing success: sharing best practice at Pfizer's Centre of Excellence

Home to one of the fastest packing lines in the pharmaceutical industry, the site covers 22 acres of land, employs 350 staff and processes in excess of 60 million units a year. An impressive achievement resulting from a long-term commitment to continuous improvement and the realisation that in order to survive global competition the site would need to be agile, responsive and customer focused.

During the visit attendees had a guided tour of the business with Pfizer providing detailed presentations on their approach to strategy, logistics and distribution, supply chain management and employee engagement..

“What became clear was Pfizer recognised the need for a vision that all employees could buy in to, relate to, and remember,” comments Ailsa Kaye, Programme Director at Onsite Insights who organised and attended the event. “Visitors were unanimous in their praise for the organisation, particularly their investment in employees and how they have successfully managed to embed a culture of continuous improvement throughout the organisation.”

Patrick Lee, Senior Manufacturing Specialist, MAS adds, “The visit demonstrated the need for companies to constantly evolve, working on improvements throughout the organisation and at every step of the manufacturing process. This can be a daunting process for SMEs but there are organisations such as ours that can help and visits such as these provide a fantastic chance to learn from others.”

For more information on future best practice visits please see the events section.