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with the required skills in large numbers anywhere in the organization, a varied background group with skills drawn from R & D, Manufacturing and Marketing is the ideal approach. In this way the group has a collective strength of experience in many different areas of product development which make up for any individual lack of experience in any one area. |
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What role should the staff of this group play in the introduction of a product? First they must act as the member for Manufacturing on the central project team and ensure that they represent the interests of both the commercial and the technical staff. To do this they must possess the skills outlined above for the project group member and the leadership skills needed within the Manufacturing environment. One of the most crucial roles they must play is to appraise, on an ongoing basis, the timing of the project versus the cost of investment in Manufacturing, taking into account the relative risk at the phase of development. There are many tradeoffs in the timescale achievable, if risks are accepted through parallel rather than sequential processing to reduce timescale significantly. The Project Manager in Manufacturing needs to review constantly the relative risks of the project and the proposed investment in plant, machinery, raw materials, and intermediates. Recommendations must be made to both senior R & D and Manufacturing management, which balance the risks and costs, though this may affect timescales. An investment of many million in a relatively high-risk, moderate-reward project may not be advisable, whereas increased investment in a high-reward project may bring about significant improvements and lead to dramatically higher market rewards. With an umbrella view the Project Manager should be ideally positioned to make balanced recommendations based on advice from team members. |
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One area where this is of key importance is outsourcing. There is much more willingness now to consider this as an option than there has been in the past. Once upon a time, in-house production was likely to be preferred in most cases because of the perceived need to make full use of the facilities available in-company. However, now this philosophy has changed to take advantage of the wide range of specialized manufacturers now available. An example in the primary area is the use of specialists in chiral compound synthesis to avoid the need of investing in expensive process research and high plant costs (and indeed high risk). Outsourcing must be considered where the cost of processing is not justified by the potential return on investment. These are business decisions which require a thorough investment appraisal carried out on behalf of senior management, with appropriate recommendations on options to be considered. The Manufacturing Project Management Group is ideally placed to make these recommenda- |
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