The Application Of Lean Six Sigma In Pharmaceutical Enterprises

All the pharmaceutical companies are involved in the increasingly fierce competition in market, cost and quality. In order to survive and develop steadily, they have to explore a management program to realize the cost reduction and quality enhancement on the basis of the existing GMP management.Lean Six Sigma, a new management system integrating lean production and 6-Sigma management, not only promotes enterprises to lower costs and improve efficiency through eliminating waste and cutting down non-value-added activities, but also improves the level of quality and customer satisfaction owing to less volatility, deviation and faster response speed, so that enterprises can improve both the economic benefits and quality level. Many well-known domestic and foreign manufacturers are exploring, promoting and implementing the Lean Six Sigma management, and have achieved gratifying results. However, adopting Lean Six Sigma in domestic pharmaceutical companies is still in the minority.In this paper, theoretical research and practical application was combined. Firstly, lean production and 6-sigma management's origin, function, implementation methods and common tools were expounded, their advantages and disadvantages were compared, and the integration of Lean Six Sigma was discussed. Based on its strengths and weaknesses, the integration of Lean Six Sigma and its preconditions and implement ways waswas analyzed. Besides, the role and practical significance of Lean Six Sigma was described. Meanwhile, by analysising the development and management of current pharmaceutical companies, the necessity and feasibility of the implementation of Lean Six Sigma in pharmaceutical companies was studied theoretically.Then, based on the research of Lean Six Sigma theory, this paper analyzes the application and effect of Lean Six Sigma in solving the problem of "the yield improvement of Product A" and "the upgrading of overall equipment efficiency in Production Line L" in SN company.Through the implementation of Lean Six Sigma, the average yield of A products was improved by nearly 10 percentage points, the expected annual direct economic benefits of hundreds of thousands of yuan. The L production line enhance overall efficiency and the indicators improved 12 percentage points, so the annual economic benefits was expected to exceed one million yuan.It was confirmed the feasibility of application Lean Six Sigma in pharmaceutical companies and it would play an actual role and significance in solving and improving specific issues.Through the analysis of Lean Six Sigma and study of the basic theory and application examples, this paper argued that the application of Lean Six Sigma in pharmaceutical companies was not only necessary to select their own survival and development of the pharmaceutical industry, but also feasible and effective to help pharmaceutical companies improve quality levels. Lean Six Sigma could help pharmaceutical companies reduce manufacturing costs and enhance the competitiveness of enterprises survival and development, and win the competition in an increasingly tough competitive environment.