Buffer size design in pharmaceutical packaging lines: An analytical methodology proposal and case study

In recent years, governmental pressure on reducing the cost of drugs, together with the growth in the number of generic manufacturers, have given a considerable boost to competition in the pharmaceutical sector. Such relevant market change has highlighted the necessity of controlling and improving performance in order to reduce costs while maintaining high qualitylevels, both enhancing working capital management and increasing overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) of production lines (activities that had previously been somewhat neglected in the pharmaceutical sector). In this paper, the paradigm of buffer design for availability (BDFA) - an approach developed to conciliate these apparently conflicting strategies to achieve performance improvement and cost reduction - is briefly recalled and discussed, being contextualized in the state-of-the-art of buffer design research. Its valuable practical applicability and effectiveness is then demonstrated by the means of a real case study application, and future developments are eventually presented.