What Your Customers Want

PMMI recently released the results of a study they undertook in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. One of the items that came out of the research was that production plants are looking for their machinery vendors to ‘partner’ with them. They want the OEMs with which they conduct business to assist them in the validation process, to offer easy to use machines, to understand their need for specialized equipment and to support their aging equipment.

All pharmaceutical and food production plants in the US are subject to FDA rules and regulations. For the pharmaceutical industry they are required to ‘validate’ their production lines. OEMs can greatly assist in the validation process by supplying documentation on the machines they build, show proof of good manufacturing processes, and assist in the FAT, IO, OQ and PQ of their machines.

Time is money and for production lines the money is made when the machines are running at full capacity. Production plants want machines that are flexible, quick to changeover, efficient, reliable, and safe to operate.

No two production facilities are alike. Therefore, the machines on those production lines need to be as unique as the products they produce. One size does not fit all in the world of consumer product production. OEMs need to offer numerous, sometimes custom designed machines to give the production plants the right machines for their needs.

In today’s lean manufacturing climate many production plants do not have maintenance personnel. Operators are expected to keep their machines maintained. OEMs can offer preventive maintenance contracts to assist in keeping the machinery clean, safe, reliable, and in good repair. Training of operators should be a part of the contract as well.

These are the best ways to support your customers’ needs.

The author, Marge Bonura, is the Director of Sales & Marketing for New England Machinery, Inc. (NEM). NEM is a leading packaging machinery manufacturer of bottle unscramblers, cappers, orienters, retorquers, lidders, pluggers, pump sorter/placers, scoop feeders, hopper elevators and much more. The company has been in business since 1974 selling to the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, personal care, chemical, household products, automotive and other industries. For more information on NEM, visit their website at www.neminc.com.