PFIZER MONTREAL MANUFACTURING FACILITY WINS "PRIX INNOVATION 2011"
PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release
PFIZER MONTREAL MANUFACTURING FACILITY WINS "PRIX INNOVATION 2011" FOR CLEANING PROCESS THAT INCREASES EFFICIENCY AND
HELPS THE ENVIRONMENT
Presented by the Association pour le développement de la recherche et de l'innovation du Québec (ADRIQ)
MONTREAL, November 23, 2011 - Pfizer Global Supply (PGS) manufacturing facility in Montreal last night was awarded the "Prix Innovation 2011" for the most innovative process development by the "Association pour le développement de la recherche et de l'innovation du Québec (ADRIQ)".
The award, presented in Montreal at the association's 21st annual celebration of Quebec innovation, recognizes an innovative and high performance dry cleaning process put in place at the PGS Montreal facility. While achieving the same quality standards, it reduces overall cleaning time, increases output and eliminates the use of water and detergent, helping the environment by saving the use of 150,000 litres of water and 1,500 litres of detergent per year. The process also helps employee safety and security by eliminating falls from slipping on wet floors as well as potentially harmful exposure to chemical splashes during preparation of the detergent.
"We are very pleased that this new high performance dry cleaning process has been recognized for its innovation by ADRIQ," said Annie Sébastien, Vice-President of Operations and managing director of the facility. "We are always looking for continuously improving our processes towards quality, safety and efficiency and it is a tribute to all our 1,000 employees to be recognized in this way."
"To be competitive globally, Pfizer has to be resourceful, and this award demonstrates that Pfizer Canada is devoted to innovation, not only with regard to the development of medicines, but also to its manufacturing processes," noted Paul Lévesque, President of Pfizer Canada.
The PGS Montreal facility was also a finalist in the technology partnership category for its partnership with the Université de Sherbrooke in the research of Process Analytical Technologies (PAT). This work is done through a Pfizer Research Chair in PAT and consists in using analytical tools to monitor in real time the manufacturing process, instead of taking samples, to enhance process understanding and quality control.
About ADRIQ
For more than 30 years, the Association pour le développement de la recherche et de l'innovation du Québec (ADRIQ) has been supporting technology development and innovation in Quebec and promoting partnerships to meet those goals. ADRIQ's mission is to support and promote Quebec innovation in the global economy in order to increase the competitiveness of Quebec enterprises both here and around the world. For more information, visit www.adriq.com.
About the PGS Montreal manufacturing facility
The PGS Montreal manufacturing facility is one of the largest in Pfizer Global Supply Division, employing 1,000 persons. Located in the St. Laurent borough of Montreal, it manufactures more than 500 formats of well-known consumer vitamin and medication brands and coordinates the production of packages in some 20 languages and their export to more than 90 countries around the world, generating more than $100 million in exports annually. Among the brands produced at the Montreal facility are Centrum®, Caltrate® and Materna® vitamins, analgesics Advil® and Robax®, cough and cold syrups Robitussin®, Dimetapp® and Dristan®, as well as Preparation H® and the hormonal cream Premarin®.
About Pfizer Canada
Pfizer Canada Inc. is the Canadian operation of Pfizer Inc, the world's leading biopharmaceutical company. Pfizer Canada has nearly 3,000 employees working at six facilities across Canada and in many other communities in every province. They are the heart of Pfizer's ability to contribute significantly to Canadians' health and economic well-being through the company's provision of prescription and non-prescription medicines, vaccines, generic medicines, and animal health products, as well as its investments and job-creation in research and development and manufacturing. Well-known brands from Pfizer include the prescription medicines Celebrex, Champix, Viagra, Premarin and Lipitor and the non-prescription products Advil, Dristan, Dimetapp, Chapstick, Centrum and Caltrate.
Every day, Pfizer Canada employees work to advance wellness, prevention, treatments and cures that challenge the most feared diseases of our time. We apply science and our global resources to improve the health and well-being of Canadians at every stage of life. Our commitment is reflected in everything we do, from our disease awareness initiatives to our community partnerships, to our belief that it takes more than medication to be truly healthy. To learn more about Pfizer's More Than Medication® philosophy and programs, visit www.morethanmedication.ca. To learn more about Pfizer Canada, visit www.pfizer.ca.
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More Than Medication is a trademark of Pfizer Canada Inc.
For more information, please contact:
Isabelle Lavoie
Pfizer Canada
Media Relations
Tél. : 1-866-973-4937
[email protected]