Clinical Trials, Delivered Faster

An excellent example of transforming a complex and challenging process and delivering significant benefits is this case study. This is the story of how the pharmaceutical company, Novartis, once transformed its clinical trial process. Clinical studies are long and complex, it involves high cost and long lead times.

To address such issues, Novartis implemented the CCPM methodology. CCPM focuses on managing the flow of projects by reducing variability and uncertainty in the process. The company started by mapping out its clinical trial process and identifying the critical chain, or the longest chain of dependent tasks, in the process.

One of the key successes of the system was the introduction of a "feeding buffer" system, which ensured that the critical chain was being fed with the resources it needed to keep the project moving forward. The company also introduced a number of other tools, such as buffer management and project acceleration, to improve the efficiency of its clinical trial process.

The results of the CCPM implementation were impressive. They were able to significantly reduce lead times, lower costs, and increase the success rate, while also improving the overall quality of its results.

One cannot reduce the complexity of the project but can help the teams to handle complexity at ease with the methodologies such as CCPM. However, technics like full kitting, and feeding buffers can be implemented in any project.