How Inefficiency Gave My Career a Kickstart

Many small things went wrong and led to delayed timelines, and nobody—myself included—likes delays. Well-meaning but empty phrases like “it wasn’t your fault” or “it was beyond your control” were used to motivate me. But honestly, it felt to me as though I was letting down my colleagues and others who were counting on the project. To turn this nagging feeling into action, I decided to solve this problem at all costs—and preferably as quickly and efficiently as possible—and that’s how my first Six Sigma project came about.

During that first project, I remember really getting to know myself and my place in a professional environment. I loved the dynamic aspect and the drive to solve a problem together with my colleagues, and even more so, I really hated inefficiency and waste (what a great combination)! My former mentor and managers at Pfizer quickly picked up on this. Thanks to them, I had the opportunity to further develop my skills in Six Sigma. Green Belt, Black Belt, statistics, stakeholder management, Lean training—I covered it all, and my drive to solve complex problems and help people continued to grow.

“Coming together is a beginning. Staying together is progress. Working together is success.”

Henry Ford, Founder of Ford Motor Company and pioneer of the assembly line.

Since that day, I’ve embraced every Six Sigma assignment with both hands. I got to know other departments, other perspectives, other approaches, and, above all, other people. I’m convinced that the “people” aspect is central to this, even though it’s still far too often underestimated. Many pharmaceutical processes—whether QC, QA, complaints, or RA—still require a large number of people, each with their own specific roles and responsibilities. Each individual with his or her own personality and values in life, each individual with a specific training program tailored to his or her task to minimize errors, each individual… I could go on, but what I wanted to demonstrate is that people play a central role in this. No matter how complex the problem is, no matter how much experience or how many tools you have, if you’re on your own, you’re lost…

“Intellectuals solve problems; geniuses prevent them.”

Albert Einstein

Last March, I received a call from a fellow QP and friend, Thomas Eerdekens, informing me that there was an opportunity at the consulting firm “Farma Consulting & Partners” to further develop my skills and help companies set up efficient processes and workflows. I had reached the point where I wanted to set up processes right from the start to prevent problems rather than just solve them. So I decided to take the plunge! And here I am now, working as a consultant for Johnson & Johnson in the CAR-T field. My focus is on setting up efficient, “right-first-time” sample flows with the ultimate goal of getting the product to patients on time. No room for error—exactly how I like it!

For me, working at Farma Consulting & Partners combines two things I value highly: being a reliable partner who helps other companies and people, and constantly improving myself in that regard. It gives me the opportunity to continually improve the way I work and adapt to the ever-changing demands of both our clients and life itself. After all, the only true constant in life is change. With this mindset and these skills, I’m naturally very much looking forward to helping Farma Consulting & Partners grow further!