Get to know our Senior Vice President, Supply - Americas
In Andy Wirths’ line of work, there is simply no room for error.
We have to get it right every time because the consequence of failure is just too great. How you make medicine is very disciplined. You have to get it 100% right all the time – 99.9% isn’t good enough.
As senior vice president of supply for the Americas region, it’s Andy’s job to ensure the company provides safe and effective medicines to patients all over the world. He oversees seven manufacturing sites in four countries, each of which makes and packages solid dosage forms, sterile injectables and biologics for AstraZeneca’s massive global network. It’s an enormous responsibility – and one he doesn’t take lightly.
“If you think about a tablet of medicine, every dose is hugely impactful, and every time someone takes it, you have to be 100% sure it’s been made to the highest quality standards,” Andy says. “We all know or care about someone who is taking one of our products, and each of those people depends on us to do our very best work, so they can count on getting the medicine they need.”
That kind of pressure isn’t for everyone, but Andy finds his work rewarding because he knows how much it matters. Ensuring AstraZeneca’s manufacturing process operates like a meticulous, well-oiled machine means people get the medicine they need, when they need it. That’s also what motivates him to find ways to improve AstraZeneca’s production and shipping in small ways every day, whether it is saving one minute of time on a packaging line change-over or finding a 0.1% yield improvement. Whatever issue he’s addressing, Andy relentlessly strives to raise the bar for what constitutes success, which is exactly what you want from the person in charge of such a critical and impactful business function.
An Unexpected Career Path
Andy didn’t set out to work in the pharmaceutical industry. In fact, his earliest influences were purely political in nature, as he grew up in a small town in New Hampshire, a state that has held the first presidential primary in the U.S. since 1920. Subsequently, he crossed paths with quite a few presidential candidates growing up – including some who went on to work in the Oval Office.
“If you name a candidate, I probably met them or saw them,” Andy recalls.
Looking back at the lineup of presidential hopefuls he encountered during his youth, Andy ranks Jimmy Carter, Jesse Jackson, Ronald Reagan, John Glenn and Steve Forbes as some of the most memorable and inspiring. In particular, he recalls shaking hands with Gerald Ford and feeling honored to meet the President of the United States.
Despite growing up amidst a constant parade of big-name politicians, Andy’s interests lay elsewhere. He had an insatiable desire to understand how things work – or why they didn’t – which led him to study mechanical engineering at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, where he also earned a master’s degree in business administration. And later, he went on to study technology and economics at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School as well.
The pharmaceutical industry wasn’t even on Andy’s radar until he started looking for a job after graduating from college. He saw an opening at Merck, Sharp & Dohme, applied, got hired and was instantly enamored with the work because it felt good to be part of an operation that made a positive impact on people’s lives through medicine. That was 32 years ago, and he’s never looked back.
Whether it is figuring out a way to manufacture and supply new COVID-19 therapies at scale and at rapid speed or making small tweaks to a process that’s been done hundreds of times, so it’s better, safer and faster, there is always a new and different puzzle to solve, and there’s never a dull moment.
“There is just enough unpredictability in the work that no two days are ever the same, and I like the challenge of that,” Andy says. “How do you make a product that benefits mankind and make sure you maintain supply of that? To me, that’s exciting, and I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
Taking Small Steps Every Day
In 2015, Andy interviewed at AstraZeneca. He was drawn to the company because of its stellar reputation within the pharmaceutical industry and because he had heard about its bold ambition to launch 10 new medicines in 10 years. He knew immediately that he wanted to be a part of the initiative. He joined the company as vice president of Global Supply Chain Strategy and Program Management in October 2015, and in the seven years since, he has played a huge role in helping AstraZeneca deliver on its promise – and then some.
But more than anything, Andy appreciates how AstraZeneca’s culture of innovation and autonomy empowers him to enact meaningful change and enjoy a sense of deeply satisfying purpose and accomplishment in the process. That’s why he tries to inspire the same drive, passion and agency in the roughly 2,000 individuals under his purview, whether they work in management or on the shop floor.
My calling cry to my leaders is, you’ve got to make sure that every single person you have on your team can show up and do their best work, and you do that by including everyone and making sure everyone is involved. Great organizations weren’t born or created overnight. It’s actually like a game of pennies – you get a little bit better every day. So, if everyone is engaged and thinking of ways to get a little bit better every day, time is on your side, you drive costs down and you drive the business forward. That collaborative and meaningful progress is why I am so passionate and excited about our Inclusion journey.
This employee has since left AstraZeneca.