Introducing Complexity in the Equation: How Pfizer Made Complexity on a Plant Level Transparent

Managing complexity induced by product variety represents a major challenge for every industrial company in this world. In the Pharmaceutical Industry the regulatory requirements make the situation even more challenging. Companies are especially concerned with the assessment of variety-induced complexity at production plants and its impact on operational performance. This chapter describes how Pfizer examined the connection between Complexity and Operational Excellence on the plant level and the potential for using the model for identification of operational improvements on the plant, as well as the broader manufacturing network level. The chapter follows a methodical combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches and presents a complexity index consisting of 20 indicators. Taking the index as a basis, the relationship between complexity and operational plant performance is investigated. Finally, two clusters, built on plant performance level and ability to transfer high external complexity into low internal complexity, are compared in detail. In the concluding part, the benefit for Pfizer from taking this perspective and approach on plant performance and on OPEX is described.