Just read Mina Kimes' enlightening account of the J&J McNeil quality disaster in Fortune. Forget about the fact that the adulterated products did not and most likely would not have harmed consumers, the problems cited are very serious and go straight to the heart of GMP's.

Did any of you catch that recent WSJ report on the negative impact of mass layoffs? OK, I know that M&A layoffs are different, but today brought the sad news that Pfizer/Wyeth will lay off 6,000 employees and close eight of its manufacturing plants in Ireland, Puerto Rico and the U.S.

Overall Equipment Effectiveness is a hot topic these days and it's one area that drug manufacturers are achieving clear time and cost savings without too much effort. Setting OEE percentage targets and aiming to achieve world-class production levels can be a truly motivating exercise, as Teva's Duane Hiveley told me recently--see "Leveraging the Simplest KPI" about Hiveley's initial efforts with OEE in Irvine, California.