Increasing supply of generics drives a Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories expansion
India-based pharmaceutical company Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories offers a wide portfolio of products and services through its three businesses: Pharmaceutical Services and Active Ingredients, Global Generics, and Proprietary Products. The company’s goal is to provide affordable and innovative medicines for healthier lives, and it achieves this goal as a manufacturer of cost-effective generics.
The company’s 300,000-square-foot location in Shreveport is ranked as the largest producer of silver sulfadiazine cream, which is used as a topical cream on burns. The Shreveport location is also the second-largest producer of prescription ibuprofen for the North American market.
Increasing the company’s output of generic products led officials from Dr. Reddy’s to consider expanding the company’s manufacturing capabilities in 2009. Dr. Reddy’s operates several manufacturing facilities across the globe but had limited manufacturing options to serve consumers in North America.
The Shreveport facility was by far the largest in the U.S. and had space for additional production capacity. Dr. Reddy’s officials, however, needed a skilled workforce to support the increase in capacity. The Shreveport facility was ideal for the expansion, but Dr. Reddy’s also evaluated additional locations to gauge the accessibility of a deep talent pool.
Dr. Reddy’s reinvests in Shreveport location
LED officials met with Dr. Reddy’s leadership to identify solutions for the pharmaceutical manufacturer’s planned expansion. State officials offered the services of LED FastStart®.
In addition to addressing the company’s workforce needs, LED provided Dr. Reddy’s with several customized solutions. The planned increase in manufacturing capacity required upgrades to the facility’s packaging equipment, tablet-compaction equipment, machinery controls and electrical system. LED offered Dr. Reddy’s a $2.1 million fund to support the company’s capital investment of $16.5 million for these upgrades.
Dr. Reddy’s also qualified for the Quality Jobs program. The North Louisiana Economic Partnership and the City of Shreveport also supported the project, waiving all of the city’s permit fees and providing a 2.75 percent rebate of local sales taxes in conjunction with the Quality Jobs program.
With the support of the state, and with the promise of support from LED FastStart’s talent recruitment and training program, Dr. Reddy’s committed to expanding its facility in Louisiana, retaining the 161 jobs currently in place and adding 73 new jobs. In December 2009, state and local officials joined Amit Patel, Dr. Reddy’s executive vice president and head of North American Generics (2008-2012), as he announced the company’s decision.
“Our plans to expand the scope and scale of our Shreveport facility are driven by the combination of several factors — the strategic fit of the products and capabilities of the site with our corporate growth objectives, the work ethic of the people of North Louisiana, as well as the incentives put forth at both the state and local levels, amongst other considerations. We look forward to a strong and growing partnership between Dr. Reddy’s and the state of Louisiana.”
Amit Patel
Executive Vice President
Louisiana proves its mettle with LED FastStart’s services
After the project was announced, FastStart began working with Dr. Reddy’s right away to identify, recruit and train the necessary talent. After completing a project analysis with Dr. Reddy’s, LED FastStart developed a plan for pre-hire training, referred to as “The Medicine Ball.” The training was developed specifically for the company as part of the evaluation process and provided assessments, training in manufacturing, safety, organizational and leadership development, as well as a new-hire orientation.
FastStart also designed more than a dozen computer-based training courses for continuing education, which allowed Dr. Reddy’s to schedule and monitor the results with complete independence. By mid-2011, LED FastStart had provided more than 3,800 hours of pre-employment training and assessment, interview training, leadership training, core skills training, recruitment and safety videos production.
Dr. Reddy’s exceeds initial hiring goals
By the end of 2011, the company’s Shreveport location added 100 new jobs, exceeding its initial commitment of 73, for a total of 261 jobs in the Shreveport area.
Facility upgrades were made to packaging equipment, tablet-compaction equipment, machinery controls, electrical systems and other production areas. With LED FastStart’s assistance, Dr. Reddy’s was able to cut the implementation time of the programs in half, saving money and getting workers on the job more quickly.
“The state of Louisiana has been a valuable partner to Dr. Reddy’s,” said Patel. “This partnership has enabled the expansion of our product lines at our Shreveport location, as well as the addition of meaningful jobs in the area. The state’s combination of incentives, workforce development, and competitive manufacturing costs contributed to our decision to expand in Shreveport. Louisiana Economic Development and FastStart have been tremendously responsive in customizing programs to meet the organization’s specific needs and in enabling the expansion efforts.”