FlowForma enabled our Pharmaceutical client to streamline their artwork process,
delivering numerous benefits back to the business.
FlowStudy Summary
Process:
Artwork Management
Pain Points:
• Recurring artwork errors in a very complex and heavily regulated process
• Pressure to meet timeframes
• Poor visibility of process progress
• Zero traceability / oversight
Benefits:
• 60% efficiency improvement
• Simple to use, agile and self-service tool
• Full co-ordination with other departments in different countries
• Leveraging more use out of their SharePoint
• Full visibility of the entire process, from start to finish
• Artwork cleared and released much faster with overall visibility
Next Steps:
The client is looking to use FlowForma in other areas, like supply chain
and bill of materials management.
The Challenge
Our client is a global manufacturer of healthcare products with 18 facilities on six continents
and employs over 8,000 people. Their IT department was asked to look at ways of improving
its product artwork management process, a hugely complex part of a heavily regulated
business. The client confirmed that artwork error is the biggest reason for product recall in
the pharmaceutical sector. Changes to artwork have to be approved by regulatory authorities
and there’s a finite amount of time to do this.
Not only do product changes have to be clearly marked on the carton or label, the pressure is
on the manufacturer to meet different timescales in different countries. Prior to our solution,
artwork was approved through lots of telephone calls and emails, typically involving up to ten
people across multiple countries.
At any given moment in time it was unclear how advanced the process was. There were no
timelines, no alerts and no traceability giving very poor management and group oversight.
With more industry spot checks and increasingly rigorous inspections, our client needed to get
some sort of control and view of the process.
The Solution
Part of an ongoing challenge for our client’s IT Manager was to find ways of delivering better
quality connectivity and applications to a highly distributed, fast-growing global business.
Microsoft SharePoint had already been rolled out to improve document processes and it was
during this experience that our client was introduced to FlowForma.
Ironically, the FlowForma deployment took longer than planned because the company kept
discovering more things they could do with it. FlowForma was used to provide two workflows.
One to push through an artwork mock-up to present to the regulatory authority for pre-
approval. The second was the actual production of the finished artwork with change requests.
It has two prongs, one for new products and another for updates to existing products.The
design studio, based in Europe, creates the artwork and shares documents for approval with
different parts of the world. The forms-based solution goes through an iterative process where
people in other territories input their changes via automated workflow. The artwork co-ordinator
uploads the final version and makes it available to each market where the product is scheduled
to launch.
had become. The mock-up artworks process included 10 steps, 80+ questions (around 15
repeating tables) and around 150 business rules in FlowForma. The change requests process
had 25 steps, 570 questions (170 repeating tables), 860 business rules and spans nine
documents. Unlike other labelling solutions, the FlowForma process continues right up to the
point where a product is released to the manufacturing site at the end of the audit trail. Our
client wanted to stabilise the business and put some structure and controls into the artwork
process. This has been achieved with FlowForma.
The Outcome
By taking emails out of the process, eliminating phone calls and automating workflow, the
process of artwork management has seen a 50-60% efficiency improvement with FlowForma.
It’s not unusual for over 100 workflows to be running concurrently, each typically involving
around ten people and handling hundreds of change requests.
Artwork is cleared and released much faster and for the first time the company has the
visibility it needs to prioritise projects. Streamlining the artwork process through FlowForma
has delivered numerous benefits. FlowForma trained our client’s personnel to use the platform
and we continue to provide support, but the point of our self-service solution is that it
encourages organisations to build out and automate their own business processes. Now
that it is established as a global platform, the company is already looking to extend its role
into other areas of the business, including supply chain and bill of materials management.
Artwork is cleared and released much faster and for the first time the company has the
visibility it needs to prioritise projects. Streamlining the artwork process through FlowForma
has delivered numerous benefits. FlowForma trained our client’s personnel to use the platform
and we continue to provide support, but the point of our self-service solution is that it
encourages organisations to build out and automate their own business processes. Now
that it is established as a global platform, the company is already looking to extend its role
into other areas of the business, including supply chain and bill of materials management.
About FlowForma
Established in 2012, FlowForma supports organisations in adhering to consistent business process
management, and improved organisational efficiency and productivity through technology. In
November 2015, FlowForma was voted Best Office 365 Add In (App) by the European SharePoint
Community. On an incredible journey, FlowForma comprises of a team of 40 experts, from business
analysts, to SharePoint architects and developers. The company is headquartered in Dublin with
offices in London and Lithuania.
For more information visit: www.flowforma.com
