KALAMAZOO — Pfizer Inc. announced that its Kalamazoo production site has been honored with the 2012 Top Plant Award from Plant Engineering magazine. The Kalamazoo facility is part of the worldwide manufacturing internal/external network operated by Pfizer Global Supply, which supports Pfizer’s internal supply needs and Pfizer CentreSource, which is the business-to-business marketing arm for Pfizer’s Global Supply network. PCS has a global customer base, which source a broad range of goods and contract services, expanding Pfizer’s impact on patients throughout the world. The Kalamazoo plant produces active pharmaceutical ingredients and fine chemical intermediates marketed by PCS.
The Top Plant honor is awarded annually by Plant Engineering, a magazine that serves industrial plant engineers and plant managers globally. The award recognizes manufacturing facilities that have demonstrated outstanding achievements in production, maintenance, productivity, and safety. Prior winners of the elite award include Toyota Industrial Equipment Manufacturing, Hewlett-Packard, Siemens, and BMW.
“Pfizer Global Supply is an outstanding example of a manufacturer that meets both its responsibility to its employees and to its customers every day,” Bob Vavra, Plant Engineering editor and content manager, said. “The plant’s management has emphasized improving productivity and reducing waste while operating a safe and efficient facility. As a result, Pfizer Global Supply can deliver a safe, high-quality product that is vital to its customers while delivering a safe, high-quality work environment for its employees.”
Plant Engineering reported that Pfizer’s Kalamazoo site has achieved significant reductions in water and energy use, reductions in production waste, improvements in yields, while enhancing maintenance procedures, and improving safety, among other accomplishments. Many of the advances are attributed to training provided to plant operators in the principals of operational excellence and empowering operators to pursue improvements.
“At Pfizer, quality and safety are at the core of all that we do,” Frank Foley, plant manager at the Pfizer plant in Kalamazoo, said. “Achieving this level of success is a testament to Pfizer Global Supply’s culture of quality and continued quest for excellence. I’m proud of every colleague at the Kalamazoo plant, whose commitment to delivering quality every hour of every day enabled our achievement of this prestigious award.”
Michael J. Kosko, president of Pfizer CentreSource, said, “The Top Plant Award is an affirmation of deeply ingrained Pfizer values that provide direct benefits to our clients. When customers entrust their business to us, they expect PCS to uphold the highest standards for quality, safety and responsibility. The Top Plant Award earned by our Kalamazoo site reflects Pfizer’s commitment to building, operating, and maintaining world-class manufacturing capabilities that our own company and our customers can have total confidence in and be proud of. We congratulate Pfizer Global Supply for award-winning performance that extends beyond Kalamazoo to each site in Pfizer’s global manufacturing network. Every PCS customer benefits from their commitment to excellence.”
