A successful running and scale-up within Aseptic Pharma.

1. Case Study
Specialist Expertise in Manufacturing Process Improvement
Andy Dobson, PaCkRaT Ltd.t/a Lean 4 Business Registered in England,
Company no. 4676181 Vat. No. 122 6139 44
Tel: 0845 108 3949 Mob: 07850 776994 E: andy@lean4business.co.uk
How Improved Production Efficiencies, Increased Delivery of
Prescription Medicine and Enabled a Revolutionary Anti-Cancer
treatment to enter the Market Faster
When a pharmaceutical manufacturer relocated production from France to Essex, to meet the increased
demand of their prescription medicine, Andy Dobson was called in to manage the introduction of a
regular night shift. Andy’s skill set of management, scheduling and production planning, meant he was
able to implement a seamless production line delivering over £1 million of product every week.
Background
The history of Rhone Poulenc Rorer (RPR) goes back
to 1860. Over 100 years of discoveries, scientific and
technological innovations and acquisitions in the fields
of chemistry, pharmacy, biology and the textile and
manufacturing industry led to a group with a
workforce of almost 77,000 in the early 1990s.
At the former May and Baker site in Dagenham, RPR
manufactured ointments, powders and sterile
injectable solutions, in vials, ampoules, bottles, tubes
and cartridges for OTC and PMO medicines.
Their Issue
When RPR launched their new Ferlixit medicine, a
treatment for Iron Deficiency Anaemia, they had
already chosen to relocate their pharmaceutical
production for a few of their products, including
Ferlixit, from France to Dagenham, Essex.
Subsequently receiving high demand for Ferlixit
globally, they realised that they needed to implement a
full night shift to meet the forecast demand.
The Story
Andy Dobson was brought in to take over a new and
still establishing night shift filling operation. Andy had
previous experience of night shift working and used
this knowledge in staff management, to ensure that a
fragile process performed efficiently through a strong
production team and effective maintenance within the
sterile filling facility.
The filling operation consistently filled more than
40,000 ampoules each night. After a short period, the
night shift alone was generating over one million GBP
per week in turnover.
Andy ensured that by implementing controlled and
authorised batch production, they were able to deliver
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) compliant
products.
By running this sterile pharmaceutical filling operation
through the night RPR was able to satisfy the
increasing demand for this product.
Using process improvement techniques Andy was
responsible for raising the yield of Ferlixit by 4%.
As time went on, Andy was given more people and
lines to look after as output was flexed to meet
demand for additional products.
The Story Continues…
Due to the successes of the site increased production
for Ferlixit, RPR made the decision to produce one of
the first of a new range of Cytotoxic anti-cancer
treatment called Taxotere at the Dagenham site. Due
to the consistent reliable product volumes and
increased overall batch yields, RPR felt confident that
this time and temperature-sensitive drug was best
filled in Dagenham. This meant that the product was
brought to market quickly.
The success of the daytime Taxotere filling operation
was down to effective and consistent night shift
preparation and initial processing.
Taxotere allows cancer suffers to be treated as
outpatients rather than requiring hospitalisation. This
saves health providers £Ms per year and is less
stressful for patients; potentially saving lives and
extending life expectancy.
“I didn’t want any more chemists running my
operation, they knew the processes but they couldn’t
get the best out of people.
Andy always put quality first and ensured we got the
output we needed to satisfy demand.”
Technical Director, Engineering Operations,
Rieckermann (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.