Bristol Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and delivering medicines for patients with serious diseases. Its manufacturing network supports products across oncology, immunology, haematology, cardiovascular health and neuroscience.
The organisation wanted to strengthen its Culture of Excellence by establishing a more consistent approach to improvement across its global operations. Individual sites needed practical systems and methods that could address local priorities while remaining aligned with a common global direction.
Success would depend on more than introducing tools and processes. BMS also needed to develop the leadership behaviours, problem-solving skills and internal capability required to make those systems work. This meant creating an improvement approach that could be applied across different facilities, transferred into the organisation and sustained by its own people.
S A Partners began by working with senior leaders to clarify how operational excellence would support BMS’s strategic priorities. Executive alignment sessions created a shared understanding of the required direction, while site assessments established the maturity, challenges and opportunities within individual operations.
BMS and S A Partners jointly developed diagnostic and scoping methods that allowed internal teams and external specialists to assess current performance together. Findings were shared at both site and global levels, creating a clear view of common opportunities without overlooking the different conditions within each facility.
This established the foundation for tailored site improvement roadmaps. Excellence was defined as a globally aligned system that combined practical methods and reliable management routines with the leadership behaviours and workforce capabilities needed to improve performance consistently.
BMS and S A Partners developed systemised approaches covering Total Productive Manufacturing, tiered management, problem solving, process simplification and leadership development. These methods were integrated into BMS-branded structures, helping the organisation build ownership and make the approach relevant to its operating environment.
Training was supported by practical application within the sites. Leaders learned how to create clarity, reinforce accountability and support improvement activity. Teams developed the skills to identify losses, solve problems and improve processes, while management routines connected this activity to operational priorities.
Behaviours were central to the improvement system. Leadership actions shaped how priorities were set and reinforced, while collaboration across functions helped people solve problems beyond organisational boundaries. At every level, teams were encouraged to use evidence, address issues openly and take responsibility for performance.
A global operational excellence maturity and benchmarking model gave BMS a consistent way to assess progress, identify gaps and direct support. Together, the systems, tools, skills and behaviours formed an improvement ecosystem that could be adapted to individual sites while remaining connected across the wider network.
The improvement system delivered measurable results across BMS operations. In line-fill activities, Overall Equipment Effectiveness increased from 30% to 60%. Right-first-time documentation error rates fell by 87%, helping to reduce delays in batch release and strengthen operational reliability.
The transformation at the Humacao facility in Puerto Rico demonstrated the wider impact. Previously an underperforming site, Humacao combined leadership development, daily and weekly management systems, focused improvement activity and equipment reliability strategies to change how performance was managed.
Ship-to-promise performance increased from 51% to 99%, while right-first-time performance rose from 83% to 90%. In 2019, the site exceeded its performance budget and became the highest-performing BMS facility globally. It was subsequently recognised as a Centre of Cultural Excellence and Reliable Supply for the company’s highest revenue-generating brand.
By integrating the methods into its own frameworks, developing internal expertise and establishing a shared maturity model, BMS created the capability to continue strengthening performance without relying on external support for every improvement. The organisation now had a consistent foundation for sharing learning, comparing maturity and sustaining its Culture of Excellence across the network.
A globally aligned improvement ecosystem connecting systems, tools, skills and behaviours.
Measurable gains in equipment performance, documentation quality and reliable supply.
Internal capability and leadership behaviours that enable improvement to continue across the network.
Bristol Myers Squibb built a globally aligned improvement system and the internal capability to sustain it. The result is a scalable foundation for improving manufacturing performance, strengthening reliable supply and supporting its Culture of Excellence across the network.