Planning Models for Maintenance and Production - Research Paper Example

of the Organization: AstraZeneca of the the Report TABLE OF CONTENTS. Brief Executive Summary ………………………………………………………………..…3Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………..4 ORGANIZATIONAL ASSESSMENT REPORT…………………………………………...4 Background of the organization..............................................................................................4-6 Description of the Organization…………………………………………………………..…6-7 Description of the Issues or Challenges Facing the Organization…………………………..7-9 The Objectives Established for the Assessment…………………………………………....9-10 METHODOLOGY…………………………………………………………………………10 Analysis…………………………………………………………………………………….,10-11 Conceptual Framework………………………………………………………………….....11-13 RESULTS FROM THE ANALYSIS……………………………………………………...13 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs …………………………………………………………….13-15 Staff Motivation……………………………………………………………………………16-17 Conclusions and Recommendations……………………………………………………….17-18 References…………………………………………………………………………………19 AstraZeneca Organizational Assessment Report Brief Executive Summary The study explores ways through which AstraZeneca can improve maintenance management and work with motivational perspectives in order to increase its maintenance efficiency and production. The highlighted objectives are achievable by providing solution proposals aiming at improving the overall maintenance results, which in turn improves the maintenance efficiency. The other areas of interest for this research are the maintenance tactics, the use of performance indicators, emerging trends in maintenance and organization like use of automated maintenance issues, integrated performance, and motivational aspects. In the Analysis of the Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), a TPM pyramid is evident. The high utilization of workers has increased the importance for their maintenance so that calibration of work is more efficient in order to reduce the time required for maintenance (Arts et al., 2008). A pictorial pyramid makes this analysis more vivid and to bring out a clear visual impression and resolution of the analysis. The stage includes an analysis of the present situation by applying relevant theories. The stage gives conclusions and their expected improvements. The study provides improvement suggestions that concur with the primary objective of this research. It examines how AstraZeneca can develop subsistence management and work with motivational perspectives in order to enhance the completion of the TPM pyramid and thus increase the maintenance efficiency. From the growth progress this research outlines, more than five actions of more urgency are important to implement. When weighing between options which one to give a greater priority, the effect of implementing the proposals, the effort needed in terms of human resource and the duration required for the implementation. Introduction AstraZeneca is an international pharmaceutical and biomedical company headquartered in the United Kingdom. It focuses on innovation, development, and commercialization of prescription medicines, chiefly for the treatment of cardiovascular, metabolic, respiratory, swelling, autoimmune, infection and neuroscience diseases. Health is the most essential concern of all human beings hence pharmaceutical institutions are of crucial importance. AstraZeneca is one such institution hence of greater importance to study and design proposals aimed towards improving their operations. The research dwells in the following areas of interest; the use of automated maintenance systems in compliance to the modern technological advancements, the integrated production of the company and finally the employees motivational bit. Organizational Assessment Report Background of the organization AstraZeneca is an international pharmaceutical and biomedical company with headquarters in the United Kingdom. The corporation specializes in drugs for gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, neurology, respiratory, oncology and respiratory. On July 11, 1979, the company got built-in and received a certificate of business commencement on 6 November the same year. The company came into existence on 6 April 1999 with the merger of two companies; Sweden based Astra AB, and the United Kingdom established Zeneca group. The merger meant to gain the company a more competition power than its competitors in the market were. The two companies had similarities in corporate cultures and shared a common vision in the pharmaceutical and biologics industry. The merger resulted into an improvement in long-term growth and shareholding value through global power. Astra held 46.5 percent shares in the merger while Zeneca took a larger share of 53.6 percent shares (Abrahamsson & Andersen, 2005). AstraZeneca developed base in marketing, stronger research, laid a concrete foundation for innovation, and enhanced financial, strategic flexibility. The company has had numerous acquisitions ever since including the acquisition of Cambridge Antibody Technology in the year 2006, followed by that of Medlmmune in the year 2007 and finally the Spirogen in the year 2013. In August 2000, the company launched Nexium, esomeprazole for the cure of acid-related diseases such as gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) in Sweden. Nexium became a best seller attracting approximately 100 markets in a period of seven years after the launch. The company having laid a better foundation for innovation invented a drug Iressa that got approval by the Japan government as monotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer. The company obtained KuDOS pharmaceuticals, a UK biotech company for an approximate cost of 120 sterling pounds in the year 2005. It entered into a third collaboration agreement with Astex Therapeutics in the same year. The collaboration had the objective of developing small molecule protein kinase B in order to boost their fight against cancerous infections. AstraZeneca acquired Cambridge Antibody Technology in the year 2006 following a collaborative relationship started in 2004.The success of the merger company progressed in June 2007 when the company completed the acquisition Medlmmune, a vaccine maker purchasing its drug development pipeline for $ 15.2 billion. In February 2007, the company made an agreement to purchase Arrow Therapeutics. Arrow Therapeutics is a company focusing on the discovery and development of anti-viral therapies for an approximate cost of $ 150 million (Abrahamsson & Andersen, 2005). February 2013, the company collaborated with Amgen intending to offer treatments on inflammatory diseases. The two corporations jointly agreed to develop and market five monoclonal antibodies from Amgen’s clinical inflammation portfolio. The foundation that steered the collaboration’s objective was the belief that all the molecules have novel profiles and offer the likely to deliver substantial treatments across multiple indications in inflammatory diseases. Description of the Organization AstraZeneca PLC is a global British-Swedish, innovation-driven Biopharmaceutical Company. The company focuses on innovation, development, and commercialization of prescription medicines, primarily for the cure of cardiovascular, metabolic, respiratory, inflammation, oncology, infection, and neuroscience diseases. The company’s incorporation was due on June 17, 1992. The organization owns and operates a range of research and development, production and marketing facilities in more than 100 countries worldwide including China, Mexico, Brazil, and Russia. It has its headquarters in London, England. AstraZeneca ranks as the world’s seventh largest pharmaceutical company based on sales revenue. AstraZeneca is a product of a merger between two big pharmaceutical companies Astra AB and Zeneca Group plc. The two companies merging were of comparable size to each other; each had a value of over $ 30 billion. The merger took place on 6th April 1999 as the two companies shared a variety of goals and possessed similarities in their operation structures. The merger’s evaluated cost was $ 37 billion. Barely one day after the merger the shares of Astra increased by 13 percent while Zeneca’s share price, on the other hand, grew by 7.5 percent. AstraZeneca has a range of medicines including treatments for illness, such as antibiotics, Meronem and Prilosec for acid related diseases. The partnership has a listing on the London Stock Exchange. On August 2014, it had a market capitalization of approximately 54.8 sterling pounds; this was the sixth largest when compared to other companies with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange. The company boasts of having approximately 51,500 employees all over the world. The company has production equipment in more than 19 different countries globally with yearly sales exceeding $ 32 billion. The variety of manufacturing facilities across a number of states has increased the bulk of production hence sales amounts shooting high (Bowen et al., 2002). Description of the Issues or Challenges Facing the Organization The new company AstraZeneca faced a series of challenges. Despite the combined drug collections, creating a stronger pipeline compared to other companies. It had held independently; the company still faced patent loss of some of its major drugs, Losec drug in particular accounted for nearly 40 percent of the company’s total sales. Patent loss is a condition whereby the original owner and inventor of a drug deliberately deny the full ownership of his or her new brand. Competing companies in the market attempted to produce and modify Losec following the expiry of patent 2001. AstraZeneca developed and put in place a strategy to neutralize the losses by defending secondary patents on their drug. Meanwhile, the company kept on introducing replacement products like Nexium to the market. The new product, Nexium ranked third in the market for new prescriptions in America. Investors viewed the new strategies designed as the best move placing the company in the best position to grow. The company also admitted to having a strategy, products, human resource, and skills to make a real difference in the world of healthcare. Another common challenge that cuts across all the companies in the industry including AstraZeneca is the ability to maintain high ethical standards with the employees while maintaining a high level of performance. Several ethical challenges concerning the relationship between the health care team and the pharmaceutical industry are in existence. The ethical challenges come about due to the implementation and maintenance of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Code regarding contacts between the pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers. The PhRMA is an organization representing research-based pharmaceutical and medical companies. The PhRMA code, on the other hand, is a voluntary code that became effective for its members in 2002, and focuses on interactions existing among health care professionals with respect to marketing products to the market. Ethical issues form the core of the challenges affecting AstraZeneca. The other ethical concern related to marketing of pharmaceutical product is in regards to clinical investigators and the pre-approval of studies to get new products to the marketplace. Integrity is on high demand in keeping the information gathered in the study. AstraZeneca and its management have had the challenge of maintaining PhRMA code guidelines for the past ten years. The issue balances with the difficulty in maintaining the company’s appropriate pressure on its sales and marketing teams to achieve sales goals set. For instance, the company faced allegations during promotional events for one of its products Crestor. The report has it that the representatives attempted to sway their relationship with invited physicians by proving inappropriate gifts such as paying for their accommodation and purchasing tickets to musical performances. In the above situation, a conflict of interest between the pharmaceutical industry and medical practitioners in regards to patient health. In a significant way, an attempt at persuasion by the pharmaceutical representative and the medical provider could influence clinical decisions, and how the research is carried out with major medical institutions and healthcare providers. The company in conjunction with the medical practitioners could not maintain a relationship that jeopardizes the best clinical decisions for patients and medical research that is fair and not biased. Another challenge that the company faces is oligonucleotide therapy, an emerging treatment alternative developed for various diseases. Binding of the short chain sequences to complimentary RNA can lead to a decrease of certain gene products leading to a therapeutic effect. In the concept of precise targeting, the activity of these oligonucleotides could improve by having a direct effect on growth cells and other cell types associated with cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. The company remains in constant search for a novel, platform technology to facilitate the discriminating delivery of short chain oligonucleotide. The Objectives Established for the Assessment The first goal of the study is to examine the mechanisms the company employs in order to motivate the employees. Employees’ motivation is directly proportional to the general output of the organization, hence establishing their contentment in the company is essential for this research (Bowen et al., 2002). The objective is achievable, and the methodology stage below clearly outlines the practicality and the steps of its realization. The second objective of the research will be to assess the maintenance management and planning issues within the company. Planning and sufficient maintenance management entails a process of identifying the organization’s immediate and long-term goals and formulating and monitoring strategies that will ensure achievement. Planning begins with reexamining the current operations of the organization and identifying what needs improvement operationally in the subsequent and upcoming years (Budai et al., 2006). The maintenance organization in AstraZeneca should be an indication of what constitutes the supervision and the execution sections in the company and the maintenance activities involved. An organizational assessment based on this is productive and exhaustive in providing the required details and information for the research. Hence, the third primary objective of this research will be to examine the use of current maintenance systems, maintenance policy, and total fruitful maintenance (Arts et al., 2008). The final objective of this research will be to test the use of maintenance performance indicators in the organization. Methodology In this paper, open and semi-structured interviews are crucial in acquiring the relevant information. In addition, the research team used internal document study, explored the company’s computer-based systems, and investigated working procedures and processes. Open interviews occurred through conversation, according to maintenance related issues within the company. However, conducting semi-structured interviews was using pre-determined questions. In the semi-structured interviews, the order of responses to the questions is open ended. That allows participants to express their ideas exhaustively to reduce incidences of bias eminent in cases of giving close-ended (Yes/No) answers (Abrahamsson & Andersen, 2005). The responses helped in collecting information about the description of the current state at the API including strengths and weaknesses. Analysis This phase includes evaluation of the current state of the company through application of suitable theories (Aghezzad, Jamalu & Ait-Kadi, 2007). Furthermore, the section includes conclusions drawn and the manner in which the current situation should change for better operations at the company. Lastly, the research team presents recommendations on how AstraZeneca should handle the weaknesses and change the notions to realistic solutions. Validity and Reliability According to Aghezzad, Jamalu & Ait-Kadi (2007), it is hard to avoid errors in research activities. Validity is the level that the measurement essentially measures what is real. However, reliability refers to the accuracy of the measurement and possible resistance to randomness. Since this research paper largely depends on interviews, there is a high probability of bias emerging from interviewees’ personal opinions. To eliminate cases of subjectivity, two employees from the company respond to the same question asked by different researchers. It follows that the research team compares their responses to establish variations and build a consensus between the responses given. Information used in this study comes from different sources to build an analysis through increased reliability and validity. Questionnaire structure does not influence the respondent’s answers, which eliminates bias. Conceptual Framework In this section, the study presents one main theory to help answer research questions. The theory under consideration is Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. Employees are social beings and therefore, fall under Maslow’s five main needs respectively: physiological, safety, belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization needs. This theory laid a basis for modern production philosophies. This theory is applicable in any company’s long-term strategic journey as opposed to embracing a quick menu (Aghezzad, Jamalu & Ait-Kadi, 2007). The philosophy is a competitive advantage through elimination of disruptions that emanate from employees lacking motivation at each level of the pyramid. From the surface, the idea seems simple but complications arise when following the training and altering the company’s culture for implementation purposes that ensure all employees feel motivated. In an attempt to ensure prosperity in a company, it is imperative that the management focuses on involving all departments to work towards the same goal (Anupindi, Chopra, Deshmukh, Van Mieghem & Zemel, 2008). Through this framework, it is crucial to emphasize on the idea of continuous improvement and involvement. The emphasis requires that managers pay close attention to every detailed suggestion from employees regardless of the level of operation of a particular worker. In the case of AstraZeneca, it is critical to focus on motivating employees to meet the ethical needs and maintain profitability within the company. Results from the Analysis Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs The Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs framework at AstraZeneca works on the pyramid and has many requirements that employers and the management should attain to motivate employees. However, the structure has a long way to go before the company achieves excellent standards. After asking people from the maintenance sections where many employees indicated dissatisfaction, most of them do not know their level of representation. Exception is given to the manager in charge. It is clear from the analysis of results that the maintenance crew lacks a clear view of the goals of the company that is imperative in meeting the self-esteem need. It is essential for these people to know where they are, and the direction headed, and the rationale behind their operation. Understanding the goal for the operation is particularly crucial. It is crucial in analyzing the Y-strategy, especially when the basic rule within the theory is to conduct training for improving skills of staff members involved (Aghezzad, Jamalu & Ait-Kadi, 2007). It is also meaningful for the company to adopt a perspective of individual motivation at all levels so that people can provide their best services. As a result, everybody within the workforce should adopt a maintenance point of view and report on overhauls and suspect mistakes regardless of their jurisdiction area. Consider Maslow’s pyramid below: The bottom of the pyramid represents the foundation of employees’ motivation. Every employee has a basic need to accomplish, he needs good salary to buy food and get a shelter. Maslow indicates that social beings cannot move from one level of the pyramid to another without the prior being accomplished. The implementation of this pyramid is a transformation of the mindset and culture of the company. Both the basic and secondary needs are crucial in speeding up the change of culture. Ensuring employees’ sense of belonging entails dedication from the management team. Managers should ensure that they recognize employees whenever such employees carry out their tasks successfully. Employees should have full support of all the leaders from the organization. At the self-actualization level of the pyramid, employees feel motivated when given opportunities to undertake self-improvement tasks through training. In the same manner, it should be possible to have dialogue with any employee on how the week’s MTBF emerged in comparison to the previous week. This serves to boost self-esteem among employees. From the interviews, it was clear that maintenance work at basic operations level functions well, and availability of staff is above the target level. Analysis of data from Oracle discovery shows a clear relationship between the critical and non-critical orders of work. At AstraZeneca, the maintenance engineers work to improve the quality of information since they are motivated by a good compensation. However, correspondents agree that the maintenance that fill in the work order fails to report in enough information compromising the integrity of the measurement. It is acknowledgeable that there are improvements noted for the past years, although there is still information missing in the back reports. For the back reports to be more useful, there is a need to define the manner of filling in when obtaining data necessary. Results from the interview indicate that the integration between maintenance and production planning is working effectively, and there are no interruptions from the preventive maintenance work. The outcomes from the meetings between production and maintenance are excellent (Aghezzad, Jamalu & Ait-Kadi, 2007). The planning process existing between production and maintenance is unsatisfactory. Furthermore, maintenance engineers and managers have a hard time accessing necessary information concerning irregularities in production. For the company management to make feasible and valid timeframe it is paramount to documents, the time needed for diverse maintenance work and calibration takes. Staff Motivation About employee motivation, the company relies on Victor Vrooms Expectancy Theory as indicated in the figure below. In the figure, the main aim in to show how motivation leads to results and the effect the chain from incentive to activity. In this case, the reward may be either intrinsic or extrinsic. For purposes of efficiency in the company, it is important to embrace a combination of the two forms of motivation. Victor Vrooms expectancy theory focuses on the why aspect of the company structure using the motivational schematics (Anupindi, Chopra, Deshmukh, Van Mieghem & Zemel, 2008). According to the theory, expectation of an effort from employees results into a positive feeling when handling a primary objective (intrinsic motivation). Similarly, this might motivate a persona extrinsically to work based on the given central figure goals. When a person gets motivation, he or she gets a tangible measure of where he or she is now. That is intrinsically and extrinsically motivated to go for a particular goal; it causes an expectation that may translate into an effort to achieve the same goals. The moment there is measurement; instrumentality is inevitable, and this makes achievements realistic. In case the achievement becomes successful, evaluation of the valence of the reward for a person is as if it was ‘worth the stretch’. This makes a person even more motivated to undertake the next assignment. It is upon the managers or coach to understand and embrace this well so that the highest level of motivation becomes prevalent within the organization (Abrahamsson & Andersen, 2005). Through self-motivation, employees require little or no attention to carrying out their tasks, except for scheduled follow-ups. The team realized an important factor concerning the leadership and culture at AstraZeneca. Notably, the leadership has a laissez-faire attitude. This attitude makes them not to focus much on hierarchy. Information flow among departments occurs smoothly. This informal approach works well for information dissemination and attributes to the cross-departmental approach and lean-meetings conducted each morning. It is clear that the leadership becomes too soft and understanding the moment planning stops. The rationale for this is due to lack of clear boundaries about who should handle some tasks, concerning production and maintenance planning issues (Arts, Knapp & Mann, 2008). Conclusions and Recommendations The conclusion pulled from this study is that working with increasing Maslow’s pyramid completion in AstraZeneca, maintenance efficiency improves. A major goal of the framework is to better maintenance efficiency. The pyramid used in this study focuses on these goals and should support attainment of the objectives mentioned in the paper. As a result, increasing the completion of tasks will increase maintenance efficiency that in turn fulfills the purpose of the study. From the argument, it is evident that the Maslow’s pyramid supports a potential improvement at the base of the pyramid (Anupindi, Chopra, Deshmukh, Van Mieghem & Zemel, 2008). At each level of the pyramid, there is a questionnaire that helps the researcher to rate accomplishment. The maintenance team is responsible for filling in the questionnaire. Through implementation of what Maslow proposes at each level of the pyramid, the operations within AstraZeneca Corporation will improve with the average percentage level of 4 percent. The percentage of Maslow’s implementation is also perceivable as how good maintenance is because completely implemented frameworks lead to excellent maintenance. Based on the research conducted, recommendations for improvement are as follows: 1. The company should introduce more useful performance indicators. Such indicators will be crucial in assessing the maintenance operations. Operation indicators are critical as motivational benchmark tools. 2. AstraZeneca Corporation should consider the introduction of more complex classification of work channels. This should be through consistent system that will better the process when assigning a work function with its account number. 3. It would be necessary for the company to review maintenance policies for the tool. AstraZeneca Corporation should put in place a policy decision framework used to assess the maintenance in specific areas. Through a structured procedure, the model focuses on assigning a policy for tool, considering both technical and economic factors. 4. Finally, the company should document the time needed for preventive maintenance. This is vital in making operational plans along maintenance in field experience. Through time documentation, there would be accuracy in performance. The accuracy will also generate the management of capacity and ensure anybody makes production plans as opposed to specific individuals having vast expertise from in field maintenance. References Abrahamsson, B., & Andersen, J. A. (2005). Organization. Ljubliana, Slovenien: Liber AB. Aghezzad, E. H., Jamalu, M. A., & Ait-Kadi, D. (2007). “Integrated production and preventive maintenance planning model.” European Journal of Operational Research, No.181, pp 679-685. Anupindi, R., Chopra, S., Deshmukh, S. D., Van Mieghem, J. A., & Zemel, E. (2008). Managing Business Process Flows. Pearson Prentinve Hall. Arts, R., Knapp, G. M., & Mann, L. J. (2008). “Some Aspects Of Measuring Maintenance Performance In The Process Industry.” Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, Vol.4, No.1, pp 6-11. Bowen, E. D. & Lawler, E. E. (2002). “The Empowerment of Service Workers: What, Why and When.” Sloan Management Review, Vol. 33, No. 3, pp 31-39. Budai, G., Dekker, R., & Nicolai, R. P. (2006). “A review of planning models for maintenance and production.” Econ, Inst, Report, in: Levrat, E., Thomas, E. & Iung, B. (2008) Odds- based decision-making tool for opportunistic production-maintenance synchronization. International Journal of Production Research, Vol.46, No.19, pp 55-78. Read More