The Tech Group, a West Company, Receives Frost & Sullivan 2015 Manufacturing Leadership Award

The Tech Group, a West Company, Receives Frost & Sullivan 2015 Manufacturing Leadership Award  
Honor Recognizes Company's Commitment to Enterprise-wide Process Monitoring

Exton, PA — March 4, 2015 — West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE: WST) is pleased to announce that The Tech Group, West's global contract manufacturing solutions provider, has received a 2015 Manufacturing Leadership Award in the Engineering and Production Technology Leadership category from Frost & Sullivan's Manufacturing Leadership Council.

The award recognizes The Tech Group's innovative process monitoring strategy, an initiative known as E2: Every Machine, Every Part. This enterprise-wide initiative reviews and improves control processes by integrating a state-of-the-art process monitoring system across 300 molding machines at all seven of The Tech Group manufacturing facilities throughout North America.

"We're extremely honored to receive Frost & Sullivan's award recognizing our significant investment and commitment to quality and process manufacturing excellence," said Mike Treadaway, Tech Group President, PDS Contract Manufacturing, West Pharmaceutical Services. "As a key supplier of life-saving medical devices and critical components, we are constantly looking for ways to improve product quality. The Manufacturing Leadership Award is validation of the hard work and effort by the entire organization. The E2 initiative ensures our customers and their end users benefit from unmatched technical expertise and quality-driven manufacturing processes."

The E2 initiative was launched as a pilot program in 2011 at The Tech Group's Michigan plant. Its Process Excellence department tested manufacturing process discrepancies, including identifying sources of product variation and detecting product defects in real time. The Tech Group, heavily engaged in Six Sigma training since 2001, was able to leverage its experience in statistics and data collection, which was a critical step in the process. These findings led to new training programs, quality-focused infrastructure improvements and project management initiatives across West's contract manufacturing facilities. Under the standardized process monitoring approach, it enhanced business processes by reducing manufacturing scrap, correcting up-time for post-injection molding assembly activities, and improving outgoing quality and on-time delivery to satisfy customers' needs.

The Manufacturing Leadership Awards, now in their 11th year, honor manufacturing companies and individual leaders that are shaping the future of global manufacturing. Winning individuals and projects have demonstrated achievement in one of a wide range of categories. They are chosen by a panel of expert judges for results that enabled the manufacturers to set themselves apart from their competitors and that have delivered clear and compelling value, return on investment, and other tangible outcomes.

Frost & Sullivan will present the Manufacturing Leadership Award to The Tech Group at the 11th Annual Manufacturing Leadership Awards Gala on June 4, 2015, at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California.

About The Tech Group

Tech Group North America, Inc., part of the West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc., is a process driven, global contract manufacturer of pharmaceutical and medical devices. With eight locations in North America and Europe, The Tech Group is focused on serving the needs of healthcare companies by providing a single-sourced solution from product conceptualization and rapid prototyping through high-volume manufacturing and final packaging. Capabilities include: concept design, engineering development, prototyping, production scale up, validation and full-scale manufacturing. Every day The Tech Group manufactures in excess of 20 million components. Tech Group's healthcare facilities are ISO 13485 certified and cGMP compliant.

About West

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc., is a leading manufacturer of packaging components and delivery systems for injectable drugs and healthcare products. Working by the side of its customers from concept to patient, West creates products that promote the efficiency, reliability and safety of the world's pharmaceutical drug supply. West is headquartered in Exton, Pennsylvania, and supports its customers from locations in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. West's 2014 sales of $1.42 billion reflect the daily use of approximately 110 million of its components and devices, which are designed to improve the delivery of healthcare to patients around the world.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. Our "Growth Partnership" supports clients by addressing these opportunities and incorporating two key elements driving visionary innovation: The Integrated Value Proposition and The Partnership Infrastructure.