The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Leaders for Manufacturing (LFM) program has announced that five leading manufacturing/operations companies from the bio-tech, health sciences, aerospace, consumer goods and defense sectors have joined the program as industry partners. They include PerkinElmer, Amgen, Spirit AeroSystems, Pepsi Bottling Company and General Dynamics Corporation.
These firms will join more than 20 LFM member companies, including Novartis, Cisco, Flextronics and American Axle, which joined in fall, 2006. LFM industry partners collaborate with MIT faculty, students, alumni and with each other to develop cutting-edge research and evolve LFM’s prestigious two-year, dual-degree graduate program.
“The broadening of the types of industries that have become LFM partners since its creation in 1988 reflects the evolving role of manufacturing. In addition to automotive and defense, they now include bio-tech, pharmaceuticals and contract manufacturing,” said Don Rosenfield, director of the LFM Fellows Program.
Rosenfield added that this diversity will be beneficial to everyone – from MIT faculty, students, and alumni to the companies themselves.
“Each LFM partner company is at the forefront in addressing its sector’s challenges in this rapidly evolving global marketplace,” he said. “We are all looking forward to long-term, rewarding relationships.”
The new member companies cite various reasons for becoming LFM partners.
“Manufacturing biologic medicines using recombinant technology is a complex endeavor that requires highly educated staff and exceptional leadership,” said Dr. Fabrizio Bonanni, senior vice president of manufacturing at Amgen, a biotechnology pioneer headquartered in Thousand Oaks, Calif. “LFM is a perfect complement to our need to develop strong business leaders with a deep understanding of technology. In addition, as an LFM partner company we have a chance to help advance cutting-edge operations-related research and to influence the LFM program curriculum and admissions.”
Bonanni added that Amgen recently initiated the largest manufacturing capacity expansion in the history of the biopharmaceuticals industry.
“This global expansion will occur into the next decade and will provide a great number of leadership opportunities in manufacturing and supporting functions, like quality control and manufacturing process development,” he explained. “We hope many LFM students will become part of what we consider to be an exciting era of innovation for Amgen manufacturing.”
According to Patrick Rousseau, vice president of corporate continuous improvement and operations for PerkinElmer’s Life and Analytical Sciences Strategic Business Unit, the company became an LFM partner "to try it out" as a good method of gaining some outside perspective relating to its efforts in continuous improvement.
“We are hopeful that this arrangement will bring value to our company through the perspective we gain in LFM seminars, internships, and other interactions with MIT professors and LFM students,” said Rousseau. “We also want to see if this program becomes a good source of talent as we look to hire operations leaders in the future.”
Headquartered in Wellesley, Mass., PerkinElmer, Inc. provides application-focused solutions in instrumentation, reagents and chemistries, software, consumables and components, and services to customers in the genetic screening, biopharma, medical imaging, environmental analysis, safety and security, office automation and consumer electronics industries.
Spirit AeroSystems, the world’s largest supplier of commercial airplane assemblies and components, was spun off from The Boeing Company. Thomas A. Greenwood, director of strategic initiatives, says “Spirit is a new company, however we are very familiar with the LFM program and have three graduates on our management team.”
“LFM partnership provides access to talent, industry best practices, and MIT faculty and research,” continued
Other new LFM partner companies include Pepsi Bottling Company and General Dynamics Corporation.
MIT's Leaders for Manufacturing (LFM) program, created in 1988 in response to the need for
To learn more, visit http://lfm.mit.edu.