Background
Genzyme Pharmaceutical is a leading pharmaceutical manufacturing company based in the United States. The company has been successful in manufacture of pharmaceutical and biotech products. Success in the recent past has enabled the company to expand to other markets. The company boasts of high-quality products that have enabled it to be competitive with other biotech manufacturing companies.
To remain competitive there is need for continuous improvement to production and quality assurance. Success in manufacturing and quality assurance requires continuous improvement to technical ability of production and quality assurance employees. The company also aims at ensuring progressive improvement and cost-effectiveness in all its operations.
Genzyme Pharmaceuticals manufacturing is made up of six production lines and three supplementary support functions. Production in the manufacturing company is divided among the four production lines. Each production line is assigned certain products that vary in type and size. Particular number of workers are required to sustain production schedules.
The personnel required for each production line is determined by production schedule. The production schedule is not constant but varies with time. The fluctuations in the production schedule depend on production orders, availability of raw materials, regulation and components. The fluctuations in production schedules have effect on staffing. Depending on the product, the production lines assign workers in eight, ten or twelve-hour shifts. In some cases the shift may overlap and cover twenty to twenty-four hours.
The production workers are responsible for day-to-day production activities. The workers are grouped as Wash Room Technicians, Fill Room Technicians and Packaging Technicians. There is variation in the skills required in each group. In each area, there in various job titles depending on responsibilities. Supervision is in form of Team leaders. There are Assistant Team Leaders, Team Leaders and Senior Team Leaders. A production line may also have a Supervisor that is responsible for overall supervision.
Quality assurance personnel are responsible for ensuring quality of product. They monitor activities in production lines to ensure high quality of products. Quality assurance workers are grouped into Quality Assurance Auditors, Label Coordinators, and Quality Assurance Material Administrators. Supervisory positions in Quality Assurance include Quality Assurance Manager and Team Leader.
Purpose
Genzyme Pharmaceutical intends to expand its operations to meet increased demand for its products. The purpose of this paper is to propose a staffing plan that can enable the company to meet its staffing need and well ensure efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Staffing Requirements
A Director and Plant Managers act as leaders in the manufacturing company. Production line supervisors and Plant Managers are responsible for coordination coordinating production workers. Department heads are responsible for ensuring enough supply of human assets in order to meet production requirements. The production department currently has 139 employees. There are 36 Fill Room Technicians, 14 Wash Room Technicians, 76 Packing technicians and 11 Mechanics. The Quality Assurance department, on the other hand, has ten Quality assurance workers. There are six Quality Assurance Auditors, two Label Coordinators, and two Quality Assurance Material Administrators.
Staffing requirement in Genzyme Pharmaceuticals is determined by fluctuations in production. The staffing requirement is thus determined by lot sizes size of shipment, length of shifts, line routines, fill run time, equipment reliability, compliance with regulations and budgetary consideration (Morfeld, 2002, par 5). The human resource management department is responsible for the selection and recruitment of ordinary employees in the company. The HRM department uses the factor above to determine the need for employees and arrange for recruitment. Manufacturing and the Quality Assurance may be involved in the recruitment process.
To meet growth prospects, there is need to increase the number of regular workers in the company. Increase of regular workers will ensure productions lines scheduling is more effective. To adjust to anticipated increase in production, Quality Assurance employees have to be increased. Twenty additional production workers are required while Quality Assurance needs four additional workers.
Staffing Strategy
Genzyme Pharmaceuticals’ overall staffing strategy is to maintain cost-effectiveness by employing only the required employees. Staffing levels are dictated by the production schedules. To minimize under or over-staffing, there is need for proper forecast. The forecasts are made by reviewing production schedules. Staffing strategy at Genzyme Pharmaceuticals aims at getting the best candidates to fill available positions. The employees must be able to learn and adapt to the company in a short time. Fluctuations in productions call for flexible employees. To accommodate for fluctuations in production, Genzyme Pharmaceuticals should make temporal employees. The temporal employees should be used in time of need. The temporal contractual employees should be used in areas that do not require deep technical knowledge. In manufacturing, the employees can be used in Packaging and other non-technical duties.
Selection and Recruitment
Human resource department should start the recruitment internally (Brusco & Johns, 2007, p. 468). This will enable Geczyme Pharmaceuticals employees an opportunity to advance their careers. Giving the company’s employees the first opportunity will have a motivation effect and give the employees a sense of ownership to the company. The employees may also know individuals that have qualifications fit for the positions. The employees can refer the individuals to the company and help to minimize recruitment costs. After this, the HRM can post the available vacancies on the company’s website. This will enable individuals that are interested to review to review the available positions and assess whether they qualify (Sartain, Preton & Burkhider, 2004, p.97-99).
After internal advertisement and posting on the company’s website, the HRM should advertise the positions in external media. The company can advertise the positions in job-seekers search engines such as CareerBuilder and Monster.com. These websites are dedicated to job seeking and will provide good opportunities for advertising the positions. Trade publications will provide another important avenue for advertising the positions. Advertising through the various avenues enables a wide range of potential candidates to be reached (Sartain, Preton & Burkhider, 2004, p. 109). The advertisement will describe the positions in detail, giving the requirements, merit and demerits. After applications are made, the candidates will be short-listed and interviews carried out by HRM department in conjunction with individual departments.
The recruitment strategy is compliant with a legal requirement. The positions are advertised in public and are open to any willing candidate. Selection is made on merit and willingness of a candidate to comply with the company’s programs.
Conclusion
Human resources are central to success of Genzyme Pharmaceuticals. The employees have enabled the company to grow to an international level. A good staffing strategy is required to ensure the smooth operation of the company. The staffing strategy takes into consideration the staffing needs of the company as well as the need to ensure cost-effectiveness. With the staffing plan, the company will be able to grow and be more competitive in pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Reference
Brusco, M. & Johns, T. (2007). Staffing a Multi-skilled Workforce with Varying Levels of Productivity. Decision Science.29 (2).pp 499-515.
Morfeld, C. (2002). Workforce Planning: The Strategy behind Strategic Staffing. Web.
Sartain, L. Preton, J. & Burkhider, N. (2004).On staffing: advice and perspective from HR Leaders. New York: John Wiley & Sons.