Scheduling & Production Improvement

$175M Healthcare Research Company

Background

  • The company is a global contract research organization that supports biomedical and pharmaceutical companies across all stages of drug development
  • Its main areas of focus include cardiovascular, metabolic, neuroscience, oncology, and rare disease
  • It operates a clinical pharmacology unit, bioanalytical laboratory, and conducts studies and research on behalf of its clients

Contributions

  • Developed a detailed production scheduling SOP and process flow to govern the future state process
  • Built a semi-automated scheduling tool leveraging pre-existing data
  • Created a capacity model for the Bioanalysis and Instrument Operations departments
  • Prioritized studies for automation and created and implemented an automation signup sheet and issues log, automation metrics package, and preventative maintenance schedule and tracker
  • Developed comprehensive reporting and dynamic visualizations

Results

  • Achieved a 29% reduction in the backlog of samples to be analyzed, leading to the recognition of an additional $400,000 of revenue
  • Accelerated the adoption of automation in bioanalysis, leading to a 50% increase in the utilization of automation equipment, and the potential for a 20-30% increase in overall bioanalysis throughput and halving the failure rate
  • Developed a proposal to move sample preparation, called “kitting”, to the Sample Control department, which has the potential to unlock 30% capacity in the aliquoting operation in bioanalysis