A Study on the Optimization of In-Process Inspection Procedure for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Manufacturing Process

The in-process inspection procedure is one of the critical operations in the active pharmaceutical ingredients manufacturing process. This study aims to improve the performance of the IPI service system in terms of three main criteria, namely service level, cycle time, and maximum tardy time. In solving this multiple-criteria decision-making problem, the proposed study seeks to redesign three process control factors, namely the service configuration, the dispatching rule, and the scheduling rule. The problem is solved using the Taguchi robust design methodology. Since the Taguchi method handles parameter design problems with only one criterion, Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution, a multiple-criteria decision-making method, is used to provide a surrogate response to the Taguchi method. The numerical results show that the redesigned IPI system improves the service level by 28.75%, the cycle time by 18.32%, and the maximum tardy time by 22.22%.