PBN Manufacturing Awards 2022
EXCELLENCE IN WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT & PRODUCTIVITY:
Amgen Rhode Island
AS ONE OF THE LARGEST manufacturing companies in the state, Amgen Inc. has a history of encouraging and supporting its workforce. Its sprawling West Greenwich facility is home to what officials describe as a state-of-the-art, next-generation biotechnology operation.
The production line of therapies is long, focusing on treatments for oncology/hematology, immunotherapy and cardiovascular diseases, among others. At least one, Enbrel, is a household name. Amgen’s reported overall revenue climbed from $23.4 billion in 2019 to $26 billion in 2021.
A significant number of the roughly 900 Amgen Rhode Island employees are long-timers, according to Tara Urban, the biotechnology manufacturer’s senior manager of corporate affairs. Some have 10 or even 20 years under their belt. In fact, Amgen places a heavy emphasis on shepherding and retaining talent and the Rhode Island facility strives to be a magnet in the STEM – or science, technology, engineering and math – fields.
Its employment policy plays the long game. The goal is to familiarize young minds with a love of science and its potential as a rewarding career path, according to officials. “It’s neat when we hear students say they learned about Amgen in high school,” Urban said. “And we have employees who’ve been on staff since college.”
A company recruitment video highlights Amgen’s locations from Rhode Island to California, Florida and Puerto Rico. The company’s message notes that opportunities for in-house growth exist, even for those who might otherwise hop around.
Amgen’s talent pipeline uses several entry points. The Westerly Education Center has a processing technology certificate program that focuses on biotechnology. Amgen recruits from there, as well as from the New England Institute of Technology, where students, typically with an electrical, instrumentation or mechanical engineering background, do co-ops with the company’s facilities and engineering teams.
“We want students to know about us as early as possible,” said Brian Britson, Amgen Rhode Island vice president of site operations. In 2021, the company virtually hosted 19 summer university interns, including five from the University of Rhode Island, Brown University and Providence College. Students from Lincoln-based William M. Davies Jr. Career and Technical High School also can experience Amgen through internships. That real-world experience helps match them with higher education interests, or they may decide to move directly into the job market.
“It’s important that we engage with the community,” Britson said.
Dania Gonzalez-Guzman, Amgen’s executive director and quality site head, agrees. She said these programs are critical to the company’s success.
“Hopefully, when they join the workforce, it will be with us,” Gonzalez-Guzman said.
Enhancing professional development also helps company growth. Amgen offers rotation programs that expose employees to areas beyond those they’re formally trained in. Competitive tuition reimbursement, quality enhancement tools such as training in Six Sigma, as well as coaching and mentoring are part of the mix.
Amgen also partners with the Community College of Rhode Island to train employees in technical writing and management, with a particular focus on data analytics, said Gonzalez-Guzman.
Productivity is also critical to Amgen’s success. The Rhode Island site has introduced a networkwide scheduling tool that’s available to the global team. This new, large-scale system allows real-time data updates and access to a schedule that tracks more than 400 simultaneous, ongoing tasks.
The manufacturing side has a labor monitoring tool that allows managers to quickly recognize the effect of production changes and how they’ll affect their employees.
In addition, the Rhode Island site has developed a real-time energy usage dashboard that identifies where energy use can be reduced. Some $100,000 in operating costs and more than 400 labor hours were avoided as a result. It all contributes to the bottom line, officials said.
“Our goal is to continue to hire and advance our staff,” Britson said, “and to grow from within.”
