New program aims to enhance operations of Wisconsin biotech companies

The University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Engineering and the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) have partnered to launch a biotechnology process improvement program, working with local firms NeoClone in Madison, Catalent in Middleton and Invitrogen in Milwaukee.

While many biotech companies are highly successful at the science side of their operations, some lack the experience and skill set required to design an effective process to take discoveries from the lab to the marketplace. This new program is intended to help biotech companies reduce lead time, variability and costs, while improving process quality and the likelihood of success on the market.

Launched in October and slated to be complete in June 2009, the program uses engineering tools, strategies and methods that have proven successful at increasing process efficiency and effectiveness at companies such as John Deere and Harley-Davidson.

The College of Engineering and SBDC are seeking two additional companies to participate in the pilot program.

“Although there has been a significant amount of money and effort committed to the development and growth of the biotech and medical device industries in the last decade, no one has proposed that the techniques that have successfully transformed other companies be deployed in the biotech arena,” says Frank Rath, program director at UW–Madison.

The program employs a unique project-based model in which faculty from the College of Engineering and SBDC work with the company through discovery, analysis and implementation. The faculty will:

— Interview employees to better understand the company’s business model and order fulfillment process;

— Define the overall process and program goals;

— Collect and analyze data and identify opportunities for process improvement and lead time reduction;

 — Develop and implement recommendations by training employees on the operations floor and in the classroom;

 — Monitor the company’s progress toward meeting its goals.

For more information, contact Frank Rath at 608-334-1303, rath@engr.wisc.edu. This pilot program is funded in part by a 2008-09 UW-Extension Program Innovation Fund grant and by a Continuing EDvantage Grant from the Division of Continuing Education, Outreach and E-Learning, University of Wisconsin-Extension.