(Continuation. The beginning was published in the issues dated 11/05/2022, 09/06/2022, 29/09/2022)
By the law of duty
According to the economists’ estimates, the 1960s were the most effective period of development of the Soviet national economy. During this period, the largest enterprises and energy facilities, which have become a reliable basis for the economic power of the country, had been put into operation. The greatest achievements of the USSR at that time – the beginning of the space age, the development of the "peaceful atom" — put the Soviet Union on par with the greatest powers in the world.
Against the background of the economic expansion and in accordance with the seven-year plan, several dozens of new pharmaceutical plants have begun operation throughout the country. Largely thanks to this, in 1965, the volume of medicinal products manufacture increased 2.9 times compared to 1958. In particular, antibiotics — 3.9 times, synthetic hormones — 4.2 times, anti-tuberculosis agents — 2.16 times. The manufacture of finished medicinal products has reached 2 billion packages, including 2 billion pieces per year of injectable solutions in ampoules.
The economic indicators of the following 8th five-year plan (1966–1970), turned out to be so impressive that it was unofficially called the "golden" plan. As a result, national income increased by 42%, the volume of gross output — by 51%.
The Moscow Endocrine Plant also made an important contribution to these achievements. For example, the enterprise fulfilled the seven-year plan ahead of schedule on November 19, 1965, and in the remaining time, it manufactured products worth over 300 thousand rubles in excess of the plan. Success was "forged" by everyone — from a worker to the director.
At that time, the company was headed by Viktor Ivanovich Chugarinov. Today such specialists are called "crisis managers". Then they used simpler definitions, but more significant: a strong business manager, a person with a strong sense of duty and special responsibility for the assigned task.
Chugarinov was an engineer-economist by education. He went through the Great Patriotic War, was awarded the Orders of the Red Banner, the Red Star and the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree; he retired to the reserve with the rank of a lieutenant colonel. Before heading the company, Chugarinov worked at the Ministry of Meat and Dairy Products Industry of the RSFSR, where he gained management experience and studied the workings of the pharmaceutical industry. Having joined the plant in 1957, Viktor Ivanovich did a lot for its development. The company optimized its structure, developed the manufacture of new medicinal products, and the performance over and above the set targets became the plant’s trademark.
In 1963, Chugarinov was promoted to a higher position. He was replaced by Ninel Nikolaevna Rapp. Her work experience is somewhat similar to the biography of the main character of Katya Tikhomirova in the film "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears", who worked her way from an ordinary front-line worker to the head of a large enterprise. Ninel Rapp, an engineer-technologist of the meat and dairy industry by profession, began working at the plant as a senior site foreman. Later, after working on various production stages, she became the plant’s director.
During the years of Ninel Nikolaevna's work as the head, the plant actually experienced its rebirth. New buildings were built, modern production equipment was purchased, automation and mechanization of a number of sites were carried out, the manufacture of new medicinal products was developed. Thanks to significant transformations, the plant has reached its planned design capacity for the manufacture of medicinal products in the amount of more than 4 million rubles per year.
With a seal of approval
At the Moscow Endocrine Plant, the quality of products and the economical efficiency of production were always a high priority.
Here is one example. The archive contains a report on the meeting of the enterprise commission dated November 18, 1964. At this meeting, specialists discussed the issues of improving the quality of various types of insulin as one of the main medicinal products being manufactured. First of all, the task was to increase the shelf life to two years, to develop a test for thermal conditioning at a temperature of + 50 °C and +60 °C. The plan was to improve the manufacturing technology, as well as to extend the shelf life of adrenocorticotropic hormone to 2 years.
Work on pantocrine improvement was also actively undertaken. Thus, in 1965, it was necessary to complete sample tests for a shelf life of up to one and a half years, by 1966 — to improve the quality of packaging, and to implement dropper vials for the convenience of using medicinal products.
On the basis of the commission decisions, in the beginning of the year 1965, the director approved an annual action plan for quality. The plan was not a formality, and the fulfillment of its terms was under strict control. The evidence of this is the report on the implementation of the quality plan for the year 1965. According to this, 1 item out of 18 was not fulfilled, 1 item was canceled, 1 deadline was postponed to next year "due to lack of necessary materials."
The plant also received an additional order for the manufacture of 5 thousand boxes of adiposin (used as an agent regulating fat metabolism) and 2 thousand boxes of inkrepan (used for the treatment of hypertension). These tasks were completed at high quality and within deadline.
According to the results of the socialist competition for the second quarter of 1965, the plant took third place among dozens of enterprises of the food, medical and perfume industry in Moscow. This high result would become a new starting point in the fight for the quality of medicinal products, which has always remained the focus of management's attention. For example, the "factory quality days" were held on the first and third Wednesdays of each month, while every Tuesday such days were held on specific sites. First-pass products, i.e. free of any defects, were recorded on daily basis. The results were disclosed in special statements. Back in the 50s, the so-called "zero-defect production system" was created. This system provided not for the rejection of defected products, but for the prevention of defects. Upon detection of the first fault, an inspector or a QC specialist would stop further inspection, returned the product and make a record of the return.
A significant event for the enterprise was its participation in the Exhibition of National Economy Achievements of the USSR (VDNH) in September 1966. The best samples of medicinal products manufactured by the plant were presented in the exposition "New developments in the engineering and technology of the manufacture of animal-based medicinal products". The Main Committee of the USSR VDNH duly appreciated the merits of the enterprise specialists. The Moscow Endocrine Plant was awarded a first-class diploma for its successful development of technologies for the manufacture of new medicinal products and the improvement of the existing technologies, for the mechanization of labor-intensive operations in the preparation of containers for finished medicinal products. Four more specialists of the plant were awarded bronze medals.
Anatolii Petrovich Kuznetsov, a technician at the experimental laboratory, was awarded a silver medal as well as a monetary reward. Thanks to the introduction of his innovation proposal, it was possible to double the labor efficiency at the manufacturing site assigned to him and to achieve annual savings in the amount of 3.5 thousand rubles. By the standards of that time this was a significant amount of money. Moreover, the developed design of the production in-line system for the medicinal products filling unit, consisting of four semi-automatic machines — for liquids filling into vials, for caps screwing-on, for labelling, for caps sealing with resin — received a patent and was put into serial manufacture.
Less than a month later — on October 8, 1966 — the Main Committee of the USSR VDNH awarded the plant again with a first-degree diploma, with five specialists being awarded with exhibition medals and money rewards.
The next exhibition was held in 1967 in the "Healthcare of the USSR" pavilion. By the end of the year, the Main Committee of VDNH awarded the Moscow Endocrine Plant with first-degree diplomas for the development and implementation of the method of insulin extract clarification, as well as for the development and introduction of a number of insulin products. Four specialists of the plant were awarded gold, silver, two bronze medals and money rewards.
Personnel – the focus of attention
The successful work of innovators and inventors, as well as other achievements of the Moscow Endocrine Plant were largely facilitated by a carefully thought-out system of advanced training of employees and the effective use of mentoring. It has been developed and actively maintained since the late 1950s, when the company was headed by Viktor Chugarinov. Being an experienced HR specialist, he understood perfectly well that only the competent and well-trained specialists were able to give impetus to the production, preserve and multiply the invaluable experience accumulated by the enterprise. Such approach was also common amongst other plant managers.
Let us turn again to archival documents — collective agreements for 1964–1965 and 1966, signed between the plant director and the plant operating committee of the labour union of food industry workers. In accordance with these agreements, the administration of the enterprise was obliged to execute the adopted annual plans for new personnel training, as well as plans for advanced training of production workers, engineering and technical workers, as well as office employees. It is significant that these obligations were strictly carried out. Thus, in 1965, 30 new workers were trained, and 65 workers upgraded their qualifications at production and technical courses. In the next 5 years, 30 persons received working specialties, 29 engineering and technical workers and office employees, as well as 115 workers advanced their qualifications at production and technical courses organized for this purpose. In total, more than 170 workers received the training, given that the number of workers directly involved in the manufacturing processes did not exceed 300 persons.
This practice has been preserved to this day, although more than half a century has passed. Today, the Moscow Endocrine Plant has signed contracts with many specialized educational institutions of the country, within the framework of which the cooperation is carried out on the organization of targeted training of employees, practical training of students and employment of graduates. Upon the completion of training, young people came to work for the enterprise interested in highly qualified personnel. That is why representatives of the plant are directly involved in the updating of educational programs of universities and supervise the implementation of theses. Thus, conditions are being created for recruiting young specialists aiming for long-term employment both in scientific and industrial production.
When working with personnel, the management paid attention not only to professional, but also to social issues. Let us consider the order No. 51 dated May 6, 1965. At first glance, there is nothing unusual. Due to the production necessity, the director decided that the day-off on May 30, 1965 would be a working day for those working at the ampouling and filling site. Accordingly, the day-off was postponed to June 9, and a collective leisure trip on a steam boat was organized.
As other documents demonstrate, taking care of people was one of the main priorities of the plant management. For example, only in 1967 a living space of 2,026 square meters was obtained for plant employees. Assuming that the average area of a 2-room apartment constructed at the time was approximately 50 square meters, this meant that the plant workers received about 40 well-equipped apartments for free.
At the level of international standards
Approximately, in the mid-1960s, the Soviet pharmaceutical industry and the population of the country faced a serious problem. Within the framework of the activities of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON), many large pharmaceutical enterprises manufacturing complete medical products were built in Poland, Estonia, Bulgaria, Hungary, which were friendly countries at that time… They produced a significant "line" of popular antibiotics, medicinal products for the treatment of diseases of the cardiovascular system, etc. At the same time, most Soviet pharmaceutical enterprises were primarily engaged in the manufacture of prime substances for the use of their foreign colleagues. In simpler terms, they produced raw materials. By the way, this had a negative impact on the provision of medicinal products to the population of the Russian Federation after the collapse of the USSR, when economic and trade ties were broken.
The Moscow Endocrine Plant turned out to be one of the few Soviet pharmaceutical enterprises that carried out a full cycle of medicinal products manufacture. It is the reduction of dependence on "allied parties" and "suppliers" that has always been given priority here. This strategically correct direction is still a priority in the operations of the Moscow Endocrine Plant.
Clearly, the independence from "allied parties" did not happen automatically. The specialists of the plant understood perfectly well that they could not rely solely on their own strength in this matter, so they actively studied the experience of colleagues from near and far abroad. Such type of interaction was called "communication with related enterprises" in the report of the central research laboratory (CRL) for 1965. The laboratory specialists visited Lithuania, where they thoroughly studied a new method of pituitrin "M" manufacture under production conditions and adopted the experience of crystalline insulin manufacture at a pharmaceutical enterprise in Kaunas.
Furthermore, a number of studies were carried out by specialists of the Central Research Laboratory under direct supervision of employees of the All-Russian Research Institute of Antibiotics, institutes of cardiovascular diseases and natural compounds of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Today, many people may be surprised by these lines from the statement on the progress of work on improving the quality and evaluation of manufactured products in 1965: "A large number of the plant's medicinal products are exported both to the countries of People's Democracies and to capitalist nations. The percentage of production for export is about 20%. This year the plant shall send 150 thousand bottles of pantocrine to Japan alone, which is 35% of the total output."
Yes, to Japan, whose pharmaceutical industry is considered to be one of the best in the world. In general, the geography of export included more than 20 countries, such as Australia, Germany, Greece, France, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Mongolian People's Republic, Syria, India, Cuba and others.
It is no coincidence that since the mid-1960s, the plant put a special emphasis on the conformity of its products to the international standards. In close cooperation with a number of research and development institutes of the country, medicinal products were refined to the level of the best foreign samples. This concerned all 16 manufactured medicinal products, since only 6 of them met the requirements at that time. The work was carried out in stages. By 1968, the work of the enterprise specialists and scientists brought success, and a 100 percent result was achieved. The products were not inferior to foreign analogues, and were even superior by some parameters.
During the same period, the plant was successfully performing work on the manufacture of products from the long-acting insulin group. The emphasis, as before, was on their compliance with international standards.
Large volumes of export to various countries required new approaches to marketing, although such term did not even exist in the USSR in those years. However, plant employees actively worked to aid the promotion and competitiveness in the international markets.
Imported white ampoules were purchased to cover foreign orders. Special attention was paid to the packaging which had to be at the level of the best foreign samples; instructions for use were translated into foreign languages. Specialists understood well that product appearance helped to increase the demand for it. In 1965, the enterprise even introduced a new job position of an export engineer. Largely thanks to this, it was possible to improve the labels' design, implement the practice of using information leaflets, and the highest-quality cardboard began to be used for the manufacture of packaging.
In general, in 1970 the enterprise successfully completed the next five-year plan, which was marked by the transition from administrative to economic management methods. The workers of the plant hit their production targets by all parameters, and some of them — ahead of schedule. Labor efficiency increased significantly, its conditions were improved, wages for employees were increased.... There were many challenging tasks ahead for the plant workers; the delivery of these tasks required high competencies and new technologies.
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