© 2024 FineFoods
L’Economia – Corriere della Sera, 4 December 2023
Fine Foods is expanding by building a new factory next to the Brembate plant, in the Bergamo province. The new plant will produce 1.5 billion doses of a branded drug for a large multinational.
Pharmaceutical companies tend to outsource part of their production to CDMOs such as Fine Foods. The partner’s reliability is crucial in making that choice. To ensure its reliability our Group made substantial efforts to be best in class in the areas of sustainability, organisation, human resources and employee retention rate, which stands at around 97 per cent. Employees are carefully selected and trained as they are strategic for the company's development
This is an in-depth article on Fine Foods’ story for L’Economia - Corriere della Sera.
Read the article here (available only in Italian)
Please find here a company translation of the article
We are pleased to announce that Fine Foods has improved its Platinum level EcoVadis rating compared to last year. On this occasion we share the words of our CEO, Giorgio Ferraris:
«There are no good financials without a good sustainability rating, there is no sustainability without solid financials. I'm very proud to announce that not only we confirmed our EcoVadis Platinum rating (top 1% over 100.000 companies), but we raised our score to 83 points, with no scorecard lower than 80. This achievement must be seen in combination with a 21.5% revenue growth and a 51.2% EBITDA improvement in the first 9 months of 2023 vs. the same period of 2022. A stellar performance!».
Below is the "EcoVadis Scorecard" (downloadable here in PDF format).
Subtitle: BrandVoice, Forbes Italia - November 2023
For nearly 40 years, the pursuit of excellence has been Fine Foods’ hallmark. It provides customers Italian high quality scientific rigour in pharmaceutical contract manufacturing combined with the flexibility and spirit of innovation typical of the nutraceutical sector, while focusing on ethics and human capital.
The sectors in which Fine Foods operates are evolving. This process is helped by its innovation and manufacturing excellence – the key factors in the group's growth.
This is an in-depth article on Fine Foods’ story for Forbes Italia’s BrandVoice.
From 24 to 26 October, Fine Foods participated in the CPhI trade fair in Barcelona. It was an event where Fine Foods put the customer at the centre by strengthening relationships and establishing new opportunities, due to the Group's reliability and expertise and a high level of innovation. Below we share the best of the 2023 event.
In the pharmaceutical industry, transferring a drug from an original production site to a CDMO involves careful assessment of candidates by customers.
The Barcelona trade fair allowed Fine Foods to show pharmaceutical customers its commitment to successful results and true partnerships from the early stages. The Group created a dedicated team backed by experience developed in leading international companies. The team applies a proactive and constructive approach to the search for innovative and valuable solutions that can meet and anticipate customer needs.
Fine Foods' commitment to the pipeline development was one of the topics discussed during the 2023 event. The Group confirmed its Pharma BU drivers such as organisational solidity, established flows and a work team with extensive experience, expertise, discipline, passion and dedication to customer satisfaction.
At CPhI 2023, Fine Foods presented three nutraceutical trademarked innovations. These show the contractor’s desire to contribute to its customers' innovation process by enabling them to reach their full market potential.
The first innovation is the Biotic3™ product range, an eight-product line combining prebiotics, probiotics and postbiotics in one formulation. With the Biotic3™ range, consumers who normally buy probiotics will find products which best combine the benefits of known prebiotics and probiotics with new "trendy" ingredients such as postbiotics used in other sectors.
The second is the Hydralibrium™ product range, which is based on cellular hydration. The powder or liquid gel formulas contain four electrolytes inspired by the difference between intracellular and extracellular concentrations, enriched with selenium to protect cell vitality. This range was designed to provide vitality and strength in different categories to meet different consumer needs.
Finally, Fine Foods presented three concepts as part of its QuickSlow2™ brand, for sleep, energy and immunity. These formulations combine the benefits of two products in one on-the-go solution to meet the needs of today's busy life. The products allow for the modified release of ingredients over time, ensuring immediate and prolonged energy.
Fine Foods' innovation goes beyond the product and places the customer at the centre when developing new initiatives by creating innovative services that bring value in the areas of sustainability, customer relationships with doctors and pharmacists, and geographic expansion.
Many companies struggle to distinguish between "human resources management" and personnel administration or understand its strategic implication. Fine Foods & Pharmaceuticals NTM S.p.A. changed its human resources management models, starting from its selection strategies.
In an area where the search for personnel still favours informal networks, Fine Foods introduced an articulate and transparent mechanism to identify candidates’ transversal skills.
It implemented innovative methods of training and project and decision-making involvement for its employees. This was accompanied by a commitment to combating discrimination.
People are pivotal and this guiding principle is applied practically in Fine Foods.
About Pharma, November 2023
Supplements are a challenging segment for Fine Foods. Brands need continuous innovation to be competitive and successful and require contractors to contribute to the innovation process. This is a cultural change for CDMOs which started as producers working behind the scenes, and now must be innovative companies capable of anticipating market trends. Fine Foods embraced this role from the beginning.
At CPhI in Barcelona, the international event that brings together suppliers, innovators and healthcare professionals, Fine Foods presented three trademarked nutraceutical innovations. The first is the Biotic3™ product range, an eight-product line combining prebiotics, probiotics and postbiotics in one successful formulation. The second innovation is the Hydralibrium™ product range, which is based on cellular hydration. Finally, Fine Foods presented three concepts as part of its QuickSlow2™ brand, for sleep, energy and immunity.
CPhI was an opportunity to share Fine Foods' drive for excellence, focus on customer satisfaction and support in achieving their market potential.
NCF, November 2023
An interview with NCF highlights Fine Foods’ added value in technology transfer and other processes.
The technology transfer process involves a series of codified steps that must never be taken for granted. The successful transfer of a pharmaceutical production is possible due to experience, process knowledge and the organisation’s involvement. While following the specifications and the scope of sustainable regulatory changes, it is possible to improve product quality and add value to a drug.
A technology transfer project consists of four critical steps, and each is crucial for the next. This includes feasibility and Gap Analysis, Analytical Method Transfer, Batch Engineering, Industrialisation and Batch Validation phase and preparation of documentation for the regulatory submission for new manufacturers. This is followed by the production of commercial batches.
Coordinated by a project leader, all company departments will be involved in the process including procurement, the pharmaceutical technology laboratory, technical services, and the customer-fronting sales team streamlining and balancing the flow of information needed to develop the transfer plan, satisfying and anticipating customer needs.
One of Fine Foods' key success factors is the correct mix of technical expertise, experience and innovative capacity, customer care and team passion.
In this new NCM Magazine edition, we talk about technology transfer.
Technology transfer is a crucial process for the pharmaceutical sector which, for some decades, has been proceeding along two parallel lines - the search for innovative therapeutic strategies, which is the prerogative of multinationals able to invest significant resources in the long term, and maintaining a therapeutic level with primary care drugs that guarantee suitable solutions and drug quality.
Transferring the production of a drug normally used in established therapeutic practice entails a careful assessment of partners. Transferring the production from an original production site to a partner requires evaluating the receiving organisation’s financial, quality and reliability parameters. The correct mix of experience, process knowledge and involvement of organisation components decides the success of the technology transfer process. It is a complex activity involving a series of codified steps that must not be taken for granted. This is possible due to the organisational soundness, established flows and teams that combine extensive experience, expertise, discipline and a desire to improve as professionals to support the development and success of the Group and its customers.
Fine Foods & Pharmaceuticals NTM CEO Giorgio Ferraris participated in the “Top Italian Companies 2023” event organised by Corriere della Sera - Economy section and Italypost, where Fine Foods was ranked among the top 50 Italian companies in the chemical and pharmaceutical sector.
During his speech, he explained the reasons for Fine Foods' success in its sectors: Pharmaceuticals, Supplements, and Cosmetics.
Ferraris described Fine Foods' driving forces and the qualities that make it a reliable CDMO for demanding companies. He emphasised Human Resources importance, talked about the talent involved in the conception and production processes and services that distinguish the company from its competitors.
He explained that one of Fine Foods' positive strengths is its ability to establish structured, long-lasting relationships with its customers that are destined to develop in growing target markets.
The video of Ferraris's speech is available by clicking on this link.
(The full video is available here)
Human resources: a driver for growth and a pillar of corporate culture
An MF article explains how Fine Foods provides customers with products that combine typical pharmaceutical production’s scientific rigour with the nutraceutical and cosmetics sectors’ flexibility and spirit of innovation, while focusing on ethics and human capital. Fine Foods made human capital prominent in the Group's corporate strategy and sustainable management.
Responsible investment and corporate sustainability are crucial issues for investors, customers and stakeholders. Employee relations are an integral part of sustainable business management. HR policies and practices directly impact employee well-being due to structural corporate employee training, development and engagement investments and create fair and inclusive working environments. These contribute to achieving ESG “social” goals.
