Orion receives Lean Prize 2016

Lean Association of Finland has awarded Orion with Lean Prize 2016. The award is given out yearly to a Finnish company that has successfully adopted Lean thinking in its operations.

At Lean Management 2017 event in Helsinki's Finlandia Hall, the award was handed by the Head of Lean Association, Kalle Arsalo, to Orion's Head of Business IM, Supply Chain and Corporate Business Support, Olli Voima, and Head of Salo Operations, Urpo Rautiainen.

The award committee commanded Orion for its wide-spread adoption of Lean thinking.
"Orion management has been highly committed to adopting Lean principles in the company culture. The approach has been result-oriented, comprehensive and encourages participation from employees. Major improvements have been made, for instance, in lead times, work safety, productivity and work satisfaction," the award committee said.

"We're proud of this award and it encourages us on our Lean journey. The work is by no means done, as Lean is not a project but a new kind of company culture, where we improve our work every day by small steps and large leaps," said Virve Laitinen, SVP, Supply Chain, Orion. 

"Few Finnish public companies have taken such a comprehensive approach to Lean, where the whole company is involved in a cultural change. As Lean is first and foremost about creativity, an approach that involves the entire staff is commendable," said Arsalo from Lean Association.

Improving competitiveness through Lean 

Lean thinking, which originally derives from the production philosophy of Japanese car manufacturer, Toyota, is a customer-focused approach to increasing efficiency. It aims at eliminating waste - non-value creating work - and developing a self-improving organization.

For Orion, the need for a new approach to company culture was related to the increasing cost pressures in the global pharma industry.

"The easy-to-find drug molecules have already been found, so the costs of pharma R&D are rising. In addition, increasing regulation increases costs. To stay competitive in these circumstances, we need to keep improving our own operations and be more and more efficient each day. We already had positive experiences from the first Lean projects implemented in our supply chain, so it was logical to try Lean as a company-wide approach," Voima says.

At Orion, Lean culture encompasses the entire organization: not only plants and production but also offices and laboratories, leadership, research and expert work. 

"When all 3500 Orionees think of how to do things better today than yesterday, the improvement trend is much more powerful," Voima stresses.
                                                                                                                                   
More information:
Olli Voima
Head of Business IM, Supply Chain and Corporate Business Support, Orion Corporation
Phone +358 50 966 2321
olli.voima@orion.fi

Kalle Arsalo
Executive Manager, Lean Association of Finland 
Phone +358 50 410 4848
kalle.arsalo@leanyhdistys.fi

Interview requests:
Terhi Ormio
VP, Communications, Orion Corporation
Phone 050 966 4646
terhi.ormio@orion.fi

Publisher:
Orion Corporation
Communications
Orionintie 1A, FI-02200 Espoo, Finland
Homepage: www.orion.fi

Orion is a globally operating Finnish pharmaceutical company - a builder of well-being. Orion develops, manufactures and markets human and veterinary pharmaceuticals, active pharmaceutical ingredients and diagnostic tests. The company is continuously developing new drugs and treatment methods. The core therapy areas of Orion's pharmaceutical R&D are central nervous system (CNS) disorders, oncology and respiratory for which Orion developes inhaled Easyhaler® pulmonary drugs. Orion's net sales in 2016 amounted to EUR 1,074 million and the company had about 3,500 employees. Orion's A and B shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki. Founded in 1917, Orion celebrates its centennial anniversary in 2017.