Improving Yield: Pharmaceuticals
"We thought we were at full capacity and had exhausted all options. In fact the improvement potential is huge." - Process Team Leader
Industry
Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals - Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients
Support Level
2 Consultants, 3 months
Objective
Increase output by 50 % without CAPEX
Results
In three months the throughput rate increased by 64 %. This created sufficient new plant time for an additional API campaign and an extra €3 million contribution.
Why did this pharmaceuticals manufacturer join forces with chartwell?
The Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient manufacturer needed to increase the capacity of one of their blockbuster drugs by at least 50 %. Investment in capital expenditure was not viable as the drug patent would expire before the end of the payback period. Internal improvement resources had lifted the plant performance as far as they could but the shortfall in capacity was still losing the company sales.
Results of the 3 month project
- Solving the filtration yield problem and twenty or so other problems increased the throughput by 64 %
- The line time created was used to produce an additional API campaign and add an extra €3 million to the business