Operational excellence at work: automation and new technologies help Wyeth achieve packaging line efficiencies at its pharmaceutical plant in Guayama, Puerto Rico

Food & Drug Packaging, Dec, 2007 by Lisa McTigue Pierce

It is not easy to grow quickly and continue to improve, especially in the highly regulated pharmaceutical market. But it is necessary to stay competitive. Each step it takes brings Wyeth closer to its goal of operational excellence. It's definitely a team effort, says Jim Powers, senior director, global packaging technology and engineering for pharmaceuticals. "Each person--throughout the organization--contributes to the success of the company. It's a core value that you can see in everyone," says Powers.

Wyeth's "Every person. Every job." philosophy fosters employee pride and job satisfaction. According to Charlie Portwood, president of Wyeth's Technical Operations & Product Supply (TO&PS) organization, "Our people have a lot of pride in knowing that they contribute in so many different ways."

These individual contributions combine to help Wyeth produce its vast volume of products, day in and day out, across the globe. The breadth of products and technologies makes Wyeth an exciting place to work and creates opportunities for career growth. People move from site to site as needed to help on various projects. By tapping into resources from all the company's businesses, Wyeth is able to share best practices and facilitate the exchange of automation technology.

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And it's not just what you have, it's how you use it. "Technical experts across all platforms work to make sure we get the most out of our automation," Portwood says. Excellence in automation is one of Wyeth's Communities of Practice and is one of the company's tactics to succeed in today's low-output, quick-changeover environment. A showcase facility Wyeth's pharmaceutical plant in Guayama, Puerto Rico, is a prime example of concerted efforts to achieve operational excellence. Investing in new technologies and high-speed automation for the packaging lines will help Wyeth improve plant capacity so Guayama can handle additional new products in the future.

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More products and shorter runs add to the challenge of maintaining efficiency. Hector Aponte, Guayama's director of packaging primary processing unit (PPU), explains, "Our biggest challenge is changeovers. It's important to be quick, and we're working to reduce non-valueadded steps."

Wyeth is also facilitating changeovers by empowering operators to make decisions and by making sure they have the skills needed. Operators are being cross-trained so they can handle any task on the line.

But they've also got support. Aponte's team includes "reliability" engineers, whose job is to monitor and improve daily packaging lines. In addition, overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) teams are responsible for stream-lining the equipment.

When everyone works toward the same goals, you tend to achieve them faster. But it's important that they all know what those goals are. One way Wyeth communicates to the Guayama staff is through large plasma screens set up in various spots, including the site's main hall, where most employees pass through at some point during the workday.

A walk down the line

It took Wyeth several years to put together the Lybrel packaging line because of the complexity of the package. Production began this spring.

Seven operators work on this line: one in the filling room and six in the packaging area. The line is monitored and controlled by Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. One system controls filling; another controls the packaging area. With an access code, Wyeth personnel can access the SCADA systems from other areas in the plant, as well as off site.

Information from the SCADA ties into a digital display on the wall so the operators can see real-time status of the line from anywhere in the room.

The filling 'sweet'

In the filling room, all operations are automatic, with several robotic systems.

Product is delivered in bulk bins.

The Lybrel ClickCase consists of four components: the base, the pill ring, the clear cover and what they call the driver (the piece with the spring that actuates the device). The pill ring simply sits on top of the base. The base, clear cover and driver are held together with notches and tabs.

In the filling room, the ClickCase is assembled and filled, two-up, in continuous steps that are proprietary.

Once a device is assembled, a robot collects it from the puck and transfers it to a carrying tray. From here, trays exit the filling room and enter an accumulator in the packaging room.

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Blister packing

Secondary packaging for Lybrel is a deep-draw blister with foil lidding, which provides stability for the pills in the ClickCase.

The packaging line from here is indexed and starts with a thermo-former. The blister, which measures 3 inches wide by 2.5 inches long, is formed from rollstock in a two-up configuration to achieve the volume required. However, the system was designed for growth. It can easily convert to a three-up configuration by replacing the 2x4 die with a 3x4 one. (Currently, secondary packaging operations are running at about 35% capacity. As demand increases, Wyeth plans to add a second filling suite to accommodate an increase in volume.)