A Day in the Life of a Global CDMO Chapter Lead – Manufacturing

The 'Day in the Life of' series has covered many aspects of the pharmaceutical pipeline, including R&D and procurement, now we're taking a look at manufacturing from a global CDMO perspective. 

Please could you outline your background and the career path that has led you to your current position? 

I am a Chemical Engineer from India. I started in core manufacturing in India. My experience during my career has been around Manufacturing, ERP implementation, Product/Network Strategy, and Divestment/Contract Management. With this wide experience, I am currently in a senior leadership position within the External Manufacturing and CDMO space. 

What would be the perfect start to your day? 

The perfect start to my day would be with a Surya Namshkar (Yoga) and a cup of good coffee while scrolling through the news. This would be followed by a scan of the days schedule that gives the feeling of an upcoming productive day.

Could you describe a typical day in your role? 

A typical day can be a mix of different things. While checking in with people and team huddles or meetings remain to be a significant part of the day, other activities like operational escalation management, cross CDMO project sponsorship, and CDMO management meetings are part of the daily schedule. I do sometimes block out a part of the day for reflection and doing some self-work.

What do you most like about your role? 

The most exciting part of the role is motivating my team to drive excellent results that directly contribute into the organisation objectives and making medicines available for the patients.

What made you consider getting into your field in the first place?

I always loved science and logic. Having completed my chemical engineering studies, I decided to go into manufacturing and continued the journey thereafter.

What are the biggest challenges you face? What issues affect your role?

The biggest challenges are unforeseen events that impact supply to patients. Under the circumstances keeping calm and ensuring quick resolution can sometimes be a big challenge. These unforeseen incidents also have a big impact on planned activities for myself and the team. Therefore being agile is a great asset.

What would you consider your biggest achievement to date, what are you most proud of? 

It goes a long way back. While I was still in manufacturing in India, implementing ERP, I had operators who could not start a computer. I had to literally put my hand on their hand and teach them how to browse. When I completed the ERP implementation the same operators were opening requisitions and orders in SAP and entering production/maintenance data. This was a strong sense of achievement in being able to take the team to a different level.

What advice would you give to other people aspiring to your position or getting into this field? 

If you are passionate about operations and are not afraid to get your hands dirty then do follow a career in manufacturing/external manufacturing. The sense of accomplishment to be able to serve patients is very high.

What do you see as the next big opportunity in your sector?

The next big opportunity in the pharmaceutical sector is to serve mass diseases with effective medication at affordable cost across the globe. This becomes even more important with a growing population till the end of this century.

How do you incorporate wellbeing into your day? 

I do yoga, walk, and cook good food. 

Is living sustainably important to you and how do you incorporate being environmentally friendly into your day? 

Yes, it is extremely important to me to leave behind a sustainable planet. I use water and electricity mindfully, and of course minimise use of or reuse plastics.

If you weren’t in this field, what would you being doing? 

As an alternative I loved English language. So another choice of career would have been Journalism.

When you were younger, want did you want to be when you grew up? 

My mom. She is a mathematician and was a scientist.