Westar – a once in a lifetime opportunity

Back in the 1990s, Stacey Vaughan, Sr. Director of Strategic Marketing, Tibor?Hlobik, Sr. Director of Product?Technology Service Marketing, and Jen?Riter, Sr. Director of Business and Technology Operations, had the?pleasure of working together in West’s Technical Customer Services (TCS), when the Westar? brand was?brought to the market. This is their story.?

Westar – a once in a lifetime opportunity

Westar was a revolutionary product for?West’s customers. Not only was it a?market leading innovation, but it changed?how our customers viewed us. We were?no longer seen as just a component?supplier but a partner whom they trusted?to take on a major portion of their?manufacturing process through a Ready-to-Sterilize or Ready-Use-product?offering.?Up until that time, customers?were washing and sterilizing our?components within their manufacturing?facilities.?

Through the evolution of the Westar?brand, our customers saw that we cared?about their business and wanted to?develop solutions to help them streamline?drug product manufacturing.??

Westar – a new offer

Innovation at West is about us working?out how to meet our customers’ unmet?needs and solving challenges for them.?Westar is a great example of that.?

Our customers excel at drug development?and drug manufacturing. Their expertise?does not?lie in component processing.?

When a stopper or plunger is used for?injectable drugs, it must be carefully?processed under Pharmaceutical?standards to meet regulatory?requirements. After a component is?molded,?it’s?put through a validated wash?process that removes endotoxins,?bioburdens, particulates and adds silicone?oil for functionality. This takes place in?clean rooms, before a component is?moved into a pharmaceutical Aseptic?Core where?it is?processed into a final?injectable product.?

Before Westar, our customers washed?our components themselves. We came to?understand their process flows and?controls?weren’t?optimized. There was a?great deal of variability in the quality they?saw, and they often needed to re-sterilize?our components because a line?wasn’t?ready, there was a shift change or some?other process flow problem arose. This?was costing them time and money.?

We recognized West could help our?customers if we took this processing off?their hands.?

Ready to Sterilize

Our goal was to produce a higher quality?than any of our customers could achieve?for themselves. We knew that if we could?do that,?we would?be able to standardize?an offer that would add a lot of value. Our?customers?wouldn’t?have to invest capital?in washers and clean rooms.?We would?be?taking the regulatory liability out of their?hands and putting it into our own.?Ultimately our success would come from?our customers’ success.?It would?be a win,?win.?

Ready to Use

We went on to recognize West could?provide even more value to our?customers if we could offer them Ready?to Use sterile products, as this would?remove another step from their process.?This further innovation minimized the?amount of work our customers would?have to do on the component processing,?allowing them to focus on what they excel?at - manufacturing their drugs.?

To develop and successfully launch a product like Westar requires a deep understanding of our customers’?needs. A true partnership.

Our customers respected our expertise and?appreciated our willingness to take the time to?understand their challenges and develop the?right solutions. They opened their inner?sanctums to us. It was so exciting to be in their?facilities, see their advanced technology, and?build a relationship with their people. We got?to physically see how strict their clean rooms?were, their gowning practices, and the amount?of scrutiny their quality and controls were?under.?

Seeing it up close and personal powerfully?brought the need for Westar to life. We?wouldn’t?have developed the right problem-solving mindset from diagrams alone. Our?relationships with our customers could be this?open because they were built on trust. It was?our ability to serve our customers with a?multi-faceted team, plus our proven track?record, that laid the foundation for Westar’s?success as a new industry standard.?

Educating our customers

As TCS representatives, our job was to educate?our customers on what best-practice?component processing looked like. We wanted?them to appreciate that Westar components?were market-leading and to give them?confidence West could meet their component?processing quality and regulatory needs.?

Outsourcing this processing to the new Westar?offering was a HUGE decision for our?customers and a significant change from how?sterile fill finish had historically been done.?West’s Jersey Shore facility added the?validated capability to wash and sterilize?stoppers. We opened our doors to our?customers, who inspected our ways of working?and gained confidence in making West a?bigger part of their supply chain.

The moment we got our first early adopter of?Westar, the value we were offering began to?resonate with more and more customers.?Others quickly wanted to be included in this?exciting innovation and benefit from?operational efficiency, reduced risk, and?increased quality.?

The Westar offering has grown so much since?then.?

Life on the road

Teams of Account Managers, Technical Service?Reps, Customer Service Reps and Engineers?travelled from site to site to understand each?customer’s sterile fill finish equipment train?and the economic impact of outsourcing?component processing.?We would?meet with?customers for weeks at a time, having?between three and five customer visits a day?from breakfast to lunch and dinner. We?didn’t?just supply Westar products to our customers?and walk away. We were with them every step?of the way, working together to bring Westar?into their manufacturing plants.??

We worked hard but best of?all,?we enjoyed?each other’s company and had so much fun.?There were many customer dinners. We got to?know each other personally and?professionally. We became one great big?extended team. Our customers even included?us in their social events.?

What we achieved together still gives us a?great sense of pride today.?

West culture

It’s?the people who work at West that drive?our innovation and success. It all started that?way 100 years ago. Our products are great, but?innovation comes from solving customers’?challenges, some of which they?don’t?even?know they have. If someone at West is given a?challenge like Westar, they roll their sleeves?up, adapt, and do whatever’s necessary to?make it a success.?

The next 100 years

The formula that’s worked for West for many?years is a formula that’s still winning today.?Everything from our quality mindset, to?understanding our customers, from regulatory?trends to rolling our sleeves up and getting it?done. Doing it all in a manner that’s personal,?and that our customers value.?

If we can continue this mindset and continue?to innovate while working in partnership, we?know West will be successful for another 100?years.?

??