Vertex Pharmaceuticals: Transforming Facilities Management with Nuvolo

Vertex Pharmaceuticals: Transforming Facilities Management with Nuvolo

Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a global leader in the discovery and development of transformative medicines, faced a challenge as its business expanded with new disease areas, markets, and acquisitions – how to manage facilities operations across R&D, manufacturing, and office locations that operate a complex array of systems.  The company’s reliance on two major asset management systems were creating inefficiencies that impeded data visibility and decision-making.  As its facilities operations scaled to support business expansion, the need for a unified, scalable solution became increasingly essential.

Nuvolo emerged as the ideal platform, offering the flexibility, scalability, and integration capabilities Vertex required, including the ability to consolidate IT and facilities requests into a single platform.

Initial Impact: Efficiency and Insight

Vertex initially implemented Nuvolo to streamline facilities maintenance operations. The results were impressive:

• Enhanced Technician Efficiency: By gaining real-time visibility into technician availability and transitioning from a paper-based system to a digital system, Vertex significantly improved technician productivity and performance.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: Comprehensive data collection and reporting capabilities enabled Vertex to gain valuable insights into facilities operations, leading to better-informed decisions about resource allocation and service delivery.
• Improved Service Delivery: Vertex optimized service delivery by analyzing data to determine whether to keep services in-house or outsource.

Expanding the Vision: GxP Asset Management and Operational Excellence

Recognizing the potential of Nuvolo beyond facilities maintenance, Vertex expanded its use to encompass GxP asset management and operational excellence. This strategic move aimed to address siloed operations, standardize business processes, and overcome resistance to change.

Nuvolo’s impact was far-reaching:

• Standardization and Efficiency: By implementing global processes and work instructions, Vertex achieved greater consistency across sites, improving operational efficiency and reducing errors.
• Data-Driven Optimization: Leveraging Nuvolo’s robust reporting and analytics capabilities, Vertex gained deeper insights into operations, enabling data-driven decision-making, predictive maintenance, and optimized resource allocation.
• Reduced Downtime: Effective preventive maintenance planning led to a significant reduction in unplanned repairs, minimizing disruptions to critical operations.
• Enhanced Vendor Management: Nuvolo’s vendor management features improved performance tracking and cost control, ensuring optimal service delivery from external partners.

A Culture of Change and Continuous Improvement

Vertex’s successful implementation of Nuvolo was underpinned by a strong commitment to change management. By establishing clear roles and responsibilities, fostering open communication, and involving stakeholders at every step, the company effectively overcame resistance and built a culture of continuous improvement.

Vendor management also played a role in continuing improvement and adapting to change. Connected Workplace supports vendor reporting as it relates to KPIs and SLAs, allowing Vertex to easily gain insights around resourcing and work loading.

Expanding Horizons

Vertex’s journey with Nuvolo is far from over. While Vertex has achieved more efficiencies in their business, they hope to dive deeper and look more granularly into their asset utilization. Additionally, other efficiencies can be realized by continuing to optimize laboratory operations, improve space utilization and achieve even greater levels of efficiency and compliance.

Key Metrics and Future Goals

Vertex tracks a range of key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the impact of Nuvolo, including:

• Service Requests: Tracks requests created in Nuvolo and confirmation emails that are sent to the requestor
• Elapsed Time to Repair: Tracks the time it takes to complete a task after it is requested
• Preventive Maintenance Completion: Ensures that the maintenance activities are completed within the month they are assigned
• Down Time: Tracks the amount of downtime in 90-day intervals
• Equipment Adds/Deletes: Tracks devices that are not found in inventory; this is measured by exception

Looking ahead, Vertex plans to further leverage Nuvolo for vendor management and space management, focusing on metrics, dashboards, and integration with other systems.

Conclusion

By partnering with Nuvolo, Vertex Pharmaceuticals has transformed its facilities management and GxP operations, achieving significant improvements in efficiency, standardization, and decision-making. As the company continues to expand its use of Nuvolo, it is well-positioned to drive innovation, optimize resource utilization, and deliver exceptional patient outcomes.