Farmak, Ukraine’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturer, has been honored with a prestigious international award from the Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance (JIPM). Farmak is the first Ukrainian company to receive this distinction. The award ceremony took place on March 20 in Kyoto.
The TPM Excellence Award is one of the most respected global accolades, recognizing the highest level of operational excellence. It is granted to companies that have built an integrated system based on the following principles:
• Reliability and efficiency: ensuring uninterrupted equipment operation and maximizing process productivity.
• People development and engagement: full involvement of employees at all levels, continuous skills development, and a culture of ongoing improvement.
• Continuous improvement (Kaizen): a sustainable model of daily improvement, where every process is constantly reviewed to achieve better results.
• Safety and environment: zero injuries, safe working conditions, and minimizing environmental impact as a prerequisite for sustainable development.
• Quality assurance: creating conditions where defects are physically impossible, shifting from end-product inspection to controlling equipment parameters that ensure consistent quality.
• Energy management and resource efficiency: in-depth analysis of energy losses per unit of output, implementation of energy-efficient technologies, and transition to sustainable resource use.
• Strategic alignment: a unified direction of goals from top management to every employee, with a clear understanding of individual contribution to overall performance.
In 2025, award recipients included leading global manufacturers such as Tetra Pak (Italy), Panasonic Wanbao Appliances Compressor Ltd. (China), Lindt & Sprüngli (France), and PepsiCo (China), among others.
Farmak’s journey toward operational excellence began in 2020 with the active implementation of Lean manufacturing and TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) methodologies. Today, these approaches are fully integrated into the company’s comprehensive Farmak Lean Manufacturing Management System.
Over the past five years, the company has achieved the following results:
• Employees submitted more than 8,000 ideas to optimize processes.
• Over UAH 100 million in savings were generated through process and resource optimization.
• Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) increased by 12%, while overall equipment reliability improved by 20%.
• Production downtime was reduced by 975 hours, with an additional 2,000 hours freed up through loss elimination; more than 23,000 technical issues were identified and resolved.
• Output of key products increased by 6% due to reduced losses and defects.
• Total waste was reduced by 47%, while the share of recycled materials returned to the economic cycle increased by 14.5%. Greenhouse gas emissions were reduced by 13.39%, significantly lowering the company’s carbon footprint. Workplace injuries and incidents remain consistently at zero.
This marks the first time a Ukrainian manufacturer has received such international recognition in the field of manufacturing excellence. Farmak continues to systematically enhance its operational efficiency and business resilience, particularly amid current challenges.
Farmak Group is a global pharmaceutical company founded in Ukraine in 1925, with manufacturing facilities in Ukraine and Spain, as well as 11 companies and international offices in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the United Kingdom, the UAE, Vietnam, Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Moldova.
The Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance (JIPM) is a leading international organization established in Japan and recognized as a global center of expertise in operational excellence. The institute develops manufacturing management standards and methodologies and conducts independent assessments of enterprises based on the highest global performance criteria.
