Quality KPIs in Pharmaceutical and Food Industry

Purpose This study aims to investigate what type of quality key performance indicators (KPIs) companies use and how they utilize the results of these KPIs. Methods This e-mail survey is aimed at the personnel in the pharmaceutical and the food industries of Finland responsible for quality. Results Q...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of pharmaceutical innovation Vol. 8; no. 4; pp. 205 - 211
Main Authors Torkko, Marianne, Linna, Anu, Katajavuori, Nina, Juppo, Anne Mari
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Boston Springer US 01.12.2013
Subjects
Biochemical Engineering
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Biotechnology
Industrial and Production Engineering
Pharmacology/Toxicology
Research Article
Quality KPI
Pharmaceutical industry
Lean practices
Food industry
Quality indicator
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Summary:Purpose This study aims to investigate what type of quality key performance indicators (KPIs) companies use and how they utilize the results of these KPIs. Methods This e-mail survey is aimed at the personnel in the pharmaceutical and the food industries of Finland responsible for quality. Results Quality KPIs were similar for both the pharmaceutical and food industries with some differences existing in their usage and reporting. In the pharmaceutical industry, the most common quality KPI was rejected batches followed by the number of complaints, product defects, and deviations. The number of complaints was the most common quality KPI for the food industry. The next most common KPIs were the loss during process and the number of deviations. Respondents in both the pharmaceutical and food industries thought that it is important to follow the indicators that describe the quality of a product and operation. Food companies shared their KPIs and their results with their partners and relevant authorities more often than did pharmaceutical companies. Conclusions The results of this study showed that the food industry was slightly more advanced than the pharmaceutical industry in the utilization of the quality indicators. However, statistical significant differences exist between the pharmaceutical and food industries with regard to one quality indicator, namely, rejected batches on the one hand and in the opinion of respondents on how well quality indicators will help direct operations in the right direction on the other.
ISSN:1872-5120
1939-8042
DOI:10.1007/s12247-013-9159-9