Pharmacia & Upjohn, launched in November 1995 by the merger of Pharmacia AB (Sweden) and The Upjohn Company (US), is a global pharmaceutical company that manufactures and markets health care and related products. Corporate headquarters are in London while research, development, manufacturing and marketing centres can be found in more than 50 countries worldwide.Currently the ninth largest company in the pharmaceutical industry, it has annual sales top $7 billion and it has 30 000 employees, 4 000 researchers and an annual R&D budget of more than $1 billion.Pharmacia & Upjohn effectively leverages human drug research into products for global animal health markets, particularly animal antibiotics. The Animal Health business researches, develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of pharmaceutical products for both food and companion animals to meet the market needs of veterinarians, feed manufacturers and livestock producers. Worldwide the division is achieving double-digit sales growth in 1995 in all major animal health products.Pharmacia & Upjohn Animal Health Canada is located in Orangeville, Ontario. Its 64 employees manufacture and distribute animal pharmaceuticals and premixed feed additives for veterinarians, feed manufacturer customers and their animal friends.Animal Health Canada is meeting the health and safety issues by emphasizing environmentally safe products with low withdrawal times to ensure safe meat products for consumers. At the same time, a shift in customer requirements - from "small farmers with 100 cows" to sophisticated, consolidated corporations owning 100 or more farms - has been met by sophisticated computer technology."Our goal is to adapt to rapidly changing times by implementing systems in the most expedient manner," says Donna Townsend, MIS manager, Pharmacia & Upjohn Animal Health Canada. She believes their "core set of value and services allows them to continuously improve the competitiveness of their customers` businesses by offering convenient products and superior business solutions".First stepStep one to offering superior products and solutions was a major shift to new technology in the mid-`80s.Animal Health Canada (then part of the Upjohn Company) sought new system software to move from batch to online processing, giving them more functionality and a fully integrated system. "Our batch system was costly to maintain and provided limited functionality," says Townsend. "We wanted to focus more on being business solution providers than software developers. A staff of programmers coding away is an inefficient use of resources."The criteria were clear: to find a system that could be quickly implemented while addressing the need for online systems, dependability, support and upgradeability. Townsend adds: "We were looking for a software supplier who would be around for a while."Within a year of spotting an ad in a trade magazine for BPCS (Business Planning and Control System) from System Software Associates (SSA), Animal Health Canada became one of the first Canadian customers using BPCS, later becoming a reference site for future BPCS implementations in the corporation.Today BPCS at Animal Health is an integrated, enterprise-wide solution comprising 18 modules including financials, inventory management, procurement, manufacturing, materials and distribution running on IBM AS/400 Advanced Series. Recently Animal Health chose to upgrade to BPCS Client/Server Version 6.02 and a larger AS/400 to meet growing user demand.With a corporate strategy to go "vanilla" with BPCS, core functionality is left intact while specific add-ons, such as customized sales reports and modifications to statements and cheques, are left to an Animal Health programme analyst.Modifying the business"We modified our business processes to match the software, which was a lot easier than modifying the software to match our processes," Townsend explains. "We are constantly re-evaluating our processes for possible productivity improvements offered by BPCS," she adds. For example, purchasing requisitions which used to be typed manually can now be done electronically on the system.Townsend calls BPCS the closest match for their price requirements and business needs and a "good fit" for the company. "BPCS gives us options we didn`t have before. It lets us run our business more efficiently. SSA maintains it and upgrades it, leaving us free to satisfy business needs."It supports lot process manufacturing, which is what we do," she continues. "SSA has also given us an excellent corporate pricing agreement and support, particularly SSA Canada," says Townsend. "Overall, users are satisfied and comfortable with it. Virtually any information they require is at their fingertips." Implementing BPCS in 1986 put Animal Health Canada a decade ahead of its time. That`s because the merger in 1996 prompted Pharmacia & Upjohn to adopt BPCS on AS/400 as a corporate standard."The combination of BPCS and AS/400 had a demonstrated suitability in the pharmaceutical environment," Townsend says. Today, BPCS implementations continue in other sites and other countries around the world.Labour costs dropAnd while revenue growth neatly charts upward, labour costs have been reduced thanks to the fully integrated software. "We are able to avoid duplication across functions," Townsend reports. "Reducing labour and support costs has improved our bottom line."Animal Health Canada plans to go live with BPCS Client/Server Version 6.02 in January 1998. Townsend believes customers will be the big beneficiaries of the move as it will allow them to place orders on the phone or online."Upgrading to BPCS Client/Server is a natural evolution," she concludes. "We will continue to expand our use of BPCS on AS/400 to meet the changing needs of our business and customers." And to creatures great and small, that`s just good medicine.
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