In this edition of iFaber, we bring to you another tale from the floors of one of our clients, which is a reputed global leader in the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals plastic packaging. They have over the years acquired the reputation through continuous improvement initiatives and a professional approach to the management of manufacturing pharmaceuticals plastic packaging. We had a chat with Mr. Vishnu Jajoo – Managing Director, Shriji Polymers India Ltd. Excerpts of which are mentioned below –
Faber Infinite (FI): We have a subscriber base of around 20,000+ readers across 8 countries, our readers would want to know more about Shriji Polymers India limited?
Vishnu Jajoo (VJ): Shriji Polymers India Ltd. is into manufacturing of packaging materials made from plastic especially for pharmaceutical applications. The products are specifically for oral solid dosages for generic applications in the USA and Canadian markets that include regulators such as US FDA and Canadian Health and Safety. We have our filings with US FDA and Canadian Health and Safety. We are catering to all those pharmaceuticals manufacturers who are in turn selling their medicines or formulations to these regulated markets of North America. So, this is a niche about Shriji Polymers. Our 98% of business comes out of this and other 2% of business is now getting developed from a different product ranges which is again pharma applications which include laboratory reagents, packaging, and certain other dosing devices and many more related to pharma industry itself.
FI: The industry that you are working is a combination of manufacturing and pharma industry. Your organization must be following best practices from both the sectors. Can you explain how does your organization handle this?
VJ: We are into manufacturing packaging material for pharmaceutical applications, so we have to be in line with different manufacturing practices that need to be adapted as what pharma is doing. Because the packaging that we are manufacturing for pharma doesn’t go for any kind of sterilization or processing. It is directly getting used by the end customers for packaging. So, we own the responsibility of using cleanroom atmosphere while we are manufacturing and hence, we ensure dust-free / contamination-free product manufacturing. So, we have created such an atmosphere where we undertake the manufacturing with all the necessary units, air conditioning, and systems in place which is exactly in line with the pharma application.
FI: We understand every industry has its own challenges. What are the challenges unique to your industry?
VJ: Our biggest challenge is to keep up with the different regulatory requirements from the regulatory bodies of different countries like US FDA and Canadian Health and Safety. So, we must always keep ourselves up to the mark with all the regulations that they are bringing in from time to time. Another challenge is to keep our teams trained, so training is another important factor. Another challenge is to ensure that our teams are put into a right culture so that they do not use any shortcuts and follow the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) norms that have been set into the manufacturing business.
FI: As we know you have manufacturing setups in Ujjain, Indore, Hyderabad, China and the USA. You are operating in such diverse geographies. How do you manage to operate from different locations? What are your suggestions for organizations who are operating across such diverse geographies?
VJ: So, as I mentioned the most important aspect is team culture. There must be a great team leader who ensures that the team culture is built in the right way. I have always focused on putting the right leader for every location and each geography. So, the respective leaders then ensure that the team is aligned to the organizational goals and the systems and processes are in place. Once the systems are in place, you don’t have to worry about the different locations or geographies.
FI: Over the last decade, the pharmaceutical packaging landscape has seen a lot of changes. Companies are working on innovation, improving operations and driving efficiencies across the supply chain. Can you share more about the continual improvement initiatives at Shriji Polymers to be ahead of the curve?
VJ: As you know that this industry has gone into changes and improvement into packaging style, so innovation is very important. The efforts are basically to tie up ourselves with more of the packaging development departments and conception development departments of the formulators, so we are able to keep ourselves at par with the changes that they are thinking about. We work hand-on-hands with them to come up with the solutions in compliance with their needs. So, for that, we have always put in efforts to keep our infrastructure, our technology, our mold capabilities in line with the requirements of the customers changing demands.
FI: As a part of the continual improvement journey, Shriji has been working on efficiency, changeover time reduction, productivity improvement across different sections. We would be glad to know your views on Faber’s role in the growth numbers.
VJ: Our journey with Faber has been young, so definitely we are seeing great results through important changes taking place. It is a seed that Faber Infinite has implanted into our team and our organization to see things more towards in an organized manner. We are very happy, as these were the few things we have been talking about since quite some time, however it was Team Faber Infinite which has put those things in place and implanted it very effectively into the downline team. Their role has been very good since they translated and formalized the thought process of our management team in every department of the organization. We are happy to see such phenomenal results. Now our teams have started talking about continual improvement and are ready to take up initiatives related to efficiency and productivity improvement, change over time reduction to share a few. All these things are the talk of the town for the shop floor guys. This is a huge improvement that we can see.
Even when I interacted with Mr. Vishal Kulkarni (Director & Founding Partner – Faber Infinite Consulting) and his team, I told them that we are happy seeing implantation of a new culture where nothing can be compromised, and everything has to be in line with the process. Now we are into the most important phase with Faber, where they are helping us in the sustenance of all the projects that have been implemented. We are working towards sustenance so that whatever has been put in place is followed uncompromised.
FI: What cultural change have you seen in Shriji Polymers India Limited since the transformation journey?
VJ: As I have mentioned, now people have started talking about transformation, change, and continual improvement. They have also started practicing what they have learned in the workplace. This shows that the right culture is in place now and the resistance to change has decreased substantially. So that is something which is very positive.
We sincerely thank Mr. Vishnu Jajoo and team Shriji Polymers India Ltd. for being a part of iFaber – the official newsletter of Faber Infinite and sharing his valuable insights.
