Lindström has been providing Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories in India with cleanroom service since 2020. By delivering clean and hygienic garments for more than 600 employees working in cleanrooms in the sterile manufacturing of injectables, Lindström helps the pharma company ensure patient safety and become more sustainable in terms of both the environment and employee wellbeing.
Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. is a leading multinational pharmaceutical company and one of the largest pharma companies in India. Established in 1984 and headquartered in Hyderabad, the company has a global presence in 66 countries and close to 25,000 employees.
Lindström’s cleanroom service extends the long-term cooperation with Dr. Reddy’s that began already in 2012.
“Dr. Reddy’s wanted to move away from the in-house laundry to a professional service provider. As the only organised rental workwear services company in India, Lindström was an obvious choice,” notes Krishna Venkatesh, Global Head & Senior Vice President, injectables Operations at Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories.
Lindström has been operating in India since 2007, and in 2018, it launched a cleanroom facility in Pune especially for vaccines and research labs. Dr. Reddy’s injectables cleanrooms are located in the Vishakhapatnam area, in the southern part of India, on the east coast.
“By choosing outsourced rental textile services, we can concentrate on our core business. Washing cleanroom garments requires special expertise, and Lindström is a leader in this field. The company has a good reputation and track record in working with the pharma industry across India and Dr. Reddy’s factories. When we needed a partner for our cleanroom garments, Lindström was my first and only point of contact. We appreciate Lindström’s reliability, high level of professionalism and the quality of garments.”
Meeting stringent requirements
Lindström’s service includes everything from the garment to washing, maintenance, repairs, delivery and storage as well as final disposal. Soil is picked up and clean garments are delivered according to the agreed schedule. Lindström ensures ongoing service 24/7: All requests can be made using the eLindström online service, which also provides continuous access to regulatory reporting such as microbiological reports and wash cycle reports. The garments are RFID-tagged, which allows Dr. Reddy’s to follow the life cycle of garments and ensure that stringent hygiene standards for cleanroom garments are met.
The cleanroom garments are designed especially for the pharmaceutical industry to act as a barrier between the person and the manufacturing environment. They help to prevent the contamination in the injectables production area and thus ensure the safety of the products.
“The garments must be stable, but also allow flexibility and comfort of use. The ergonomics, breathable material and ease of wearing and removing are important aspects that support the wellbeing of our employees. Lindström is doing a good job in all of these respects and continuously strives for developing the garments to better meet our needs. We are currently working together to develop garments that can be put on and taken off in 30 seconds.”
Sustainability high on the agenda
Dr Reddy’s has ambitious ESG goals, including 100% renewable power by 2030, carbon neutrality in direct operations by 2030 and a 12.5% reduction in indirect carbon emissions by 2030. The company has also set targets to reduce their water consumption and become water positive by 2025. In this regard, efficient laundry services play a big role.
“It is our goal that by 2030 all our strategic suppliers will be compliant with our broad ESG framework. We are looking into partnering with companies whose sustainability efforts are in line with our ambitions and consider Lindström to be a very responsible partner.”
Lindström is constantly figuring out how to make the processes in the pharma industry even more environmentally friendly, whether by extending the life cycle of the garments or by finding ways to reduce the amount of plastic, among other things.
“Recently, we have had discussions with Lindström about replacing the plastic film bag used for packing cleanroom garments with a paper bag, but we are still in the process of looking for a suitable solution. Our number one goal is to protect our patients. It is not an easy task to find an alternative to our current bag in preventing contamination. We are, however, keen on continuing to innovate together to find a potential solution in the future.”
The goal to reduce plastic is just one aspect of Dr. Reddy’s responsibility.
“We need to consider our total impact on the environment and are especially eager to learn how Lindström deals with water neutrality, among other things. We want to be a forerunner in both serving our patients with first-to-market products that address unmet patient needs and acting in an employee and planet-friendly way. We are more than happy to continue collaborating with Lindström to reach our sustainability goals.”