For most consumers, the rising cost of medications and medical treatments is becoming more and more a global concern. While much of the discourse focuses on insurance models, healthcare policies, and pharmaceutical pricing, there is an often-overlooked contributor to affordability: manufacturing efficiency.
As the demand for healthcare continues to grow, driven by aging populations, chronic disease prevalence, and expanding access in emerging economies, the need to produce high-quality medical products quickly, safely, and cost-effectively has never been more critical.
Healthcare affordability is a multifaceted issue, but at its core lies the simple equation of supply and demand. According to the World Health Organization, global spending on health reached $9 trillion in 2020, accounting for 10.9% of global GDP. In the United States, pharmaceutical spending alone hit $600 billion in 2021.
Much of this cost is passed on to consumers, governments, and insurance companies. But what if upstream processes, such as drug manufacturing and equipment production, could reduce costs at the source? Standardized production and greater manufacturing production efficiency offer one solution to meet growing demand affordably.
Manufacturing efficiency refers to producing goods using minimal resources, time, energy, materials, and labor, without compromising quality. In healthcare, this includes:
These factors together boost efficiency and help make critical healthcare products accessible and cost-effective.
Pharmaceutical manufacturing is both complex and highly regulated. It includes raw material sourcing, precise chemical synthesis, and rigid quality checks. Errors in production schedules, delays in production flow, or poor machine monitoring can introduce costly inefficiencies.
According to McKinsey, pharma manufacturers lose $50 billion annually due to downtime and slow changeovers. To improve, companies are now leveraging lean manufacturing principles, efficiency gains, and efficiency measures to address these gaps.
LTPM pharmaceutical machinery plays a crucial role in enhancing production efficiency through automation, precision dosing, and streamlined packaging processes. By reducing manufacturing costs and scaling up high-quality drug production, LTPM pharmaceutical machinery directly supports more affordable and accessible healthcare solutions worldwide.
Additional technical strategies include:
Adopting a manufacturing mindset, measuring and improving strategies, and ways to improve manufacturing are essential to long-term operational success.
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted how crucial real-time production and continuous improvement efforts are to public health. Manufacturers like Pfizer rapidly retooled operations using continuous improvement tracker systems and predictive maintenance to bring manufacturing online faster.
Pfizer's adoption of continuous improvement methods and AI-driven manufacturing cycle efficiency tools allowed them to produce over 3 billion vaccine doses in 2021, reducing machine efficiency loss and resource waste.
This showcased a culture of continuous improvement, where digital systems track, optimize, and adapt in real time.
From surgical gloves to MRI machines, the impact of production efficiency goes beyond drugs. The U.S. medical equipment manufacturing sector, projected at $270.1 billion in 2025, is susceptible to inefficiencies from outdated workflows or a lack of modularity.
Using advanced manufacturing technologies, Six Sigma methods, and efficient production bottlenecks tracking tools, companies can streamline their operations and improve production performance. These tactics help calculate manufacturing capabilities and cut delivery times while enhancing product access for underserved regions.
Additional technical approaches include:
Improving operational efficiency in healthcare is important to environmental sustainability. The sector contributes 4.4% of global emissions, but applying manufacturing principles to streamline operations helps mitigate this.
By using efficiency in a manufacturing context, companies can focus on efficiency also as a climate goal. Reducing chemical waste, using energy-efficient systems, and investing in industry standards or competitor benchmarking supports environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals.
In low and middle-income countries, inefficient manufacturing drives up prices and limits access to life-saving therapies. Identifying areas for improvement in manufacturing facilities becomes key to scaling production for underserved populations.
Standard output can be found in portable manufacturing models, localized drug formulation, and smart packaging. This shift supports efficient production and better efficiency focuses in rural health systems.
At the same time, improving access isn’t only about production, it’s also about connecting patients to the care they need. Platforms like Credihealth contribute to this effort by offering transparent information on hospitals, treatments, and medical costs, helping bridge the final gap between efficient manufacturing and real-world healthcare delivery.
Digital tools are revolutionizing the manufacturing process. With technologies like AI, IIoT, and blockchain:
Collectively, these technologies enable real-time data acquisition, advanced process optimization, and system-wide interoperability, driving measurable gains in throughput, asset utilization, and operational agility across the manufacturing lifecycle.
Affordable care is more than a policy goal, it depends on operational excellence. From boosting production efficiency to reducing cost of production, efficiency remains a foundation of healthcare delivery.
Manufacturers that saw the improvement from lean processes and data-driven decisions can streamline global production and meet demand sustainably.
Ultimately, efficiency helps deliver not just affordable products, but timely, safe, and equitable healthcare. Find the most affordable for you or your business today, by finding the most efficient.