Author: Su Daixiang

At Lizhu, I am an ordinary person.

My life is simple and pure, a straight line between two points — the pharmaceutical factory and home; my work is also very pure, I have been in one position for 27 years.

Continuously improving my skills through learning from others.

In the autumn of 1992, I came to Zhuhai and entered Lizhu Pharmaceutical Factory. In the blink of an eye, 27 years have passed. The pharmaceutical factory has undergone tremendous changes, and I have transformed from a young girl into an 'elder' nearing retirement.

Initially, I worked as a manual packager in the intestinal workshop, repeating the same actions every day, with the goal of completing the output. I often asked myself, is this how I will package for a lifetime? Occasionally, I would hear unwilling voices, so what should I do? I could only strive for learning opportunities, hoping to acquire skills.

In 1999, I was transferred to the cephalosporin workshop, assigned to the printing batch number position. Arranging and printing batch numbers, debugging equipment really tests patience; if there is even a slight unevenness, the printing effect will be poor. I stayed in this position for 8 years without a single quality incident.

In 2008, during the large-scale production of antibiotics, the cephalosporin powder injection workshop had 4 production lines running simultaneously, with a daily output of 320,000 bottles, and the work pace was very intense. I was responsible for labeling products at the labeling position. If the labeling machine malfunctioned, the maintenance technician could only make emergency repairs during meal times to ensure subsequent production.

Every time, I took the initiative to stay and assist the technician, handing over a wrench or fetching a part. For me, what mattered more was 'learning from the master': observing how the technician repaired and maintained different faults, and my skills were continuously improved through this learning process. Later, when equipment malfunctioned, I was able to solve it myself. This process made me realize that seeing is not as good as doing; if you dare to take action and do more, there is no skill that cannot be mastered.

In 2010, I was promoted to packaging team leader. That year, the requirement for electronic supervision codes was added to the outer packaging of drugs to trace the flow of drugs, and all data had to be accurately provided to the drug regulatory authority. After the system was installed, I opened the manual to find it was all in English, and I was immediately dumbfounded; the dense English text felt like biting ants, making me feel uneasy, and I didn't know where to click with the mouse.

Later, I thought of a method: memorizing the first letter of each word in the system, then drawing diagrams to gradually outline the process, figuring out the way and mastering the operation method, and then repeatedly validating it. After becoming completely familiar with it, I wrote a new SOP.

After completing the task without human error, the workshop director called me to the office and told me there was a commendation quota to choose between the employees and me. Who to choose? I unhesitatingly gave it to the employee, saying that giving it to the employee is the best encouragement. The result of the selection was a 'double yellow egg': we both received commendations, and I understood that there will always be rewards for hard work.

Embracing greater challenges on a new platform.

In 2011, the pharmaceutical factory moved to the current Lizhu Industrial Park, and I was transferred to the freeze-dried powder injection workshop as the packaging team leader. It was the largest team in the factory, with up to sixty-seven people at peak times. This was a very difficult time: I had to overcome the changes in my commuting route, traveling more than seventy kilometers daily; unfamiliar environment, unfamiliar colleagues; I also felt anxiety and confusion.

Some newly hired employees had no knowledge of drugs, let alone quality awareness, GMP, SOP, process regulations, etc. I immediately had an idea: 'Teaching a man to fish is better than giving him a fish.' Teach! Gradually train them, teach the operating procedures, raise work requirements, and even some colleagues needed to be taught from the basic numbers 1, 2, 3 to fill out operation records. Some employees wrote unclearly, so I edited the Product Name into a handwriting practice sheet, assigning homework like teaching elementary school students, allowing them to practice.

In the new work environment, every day felt like fighting a battle; I felt like a soldier forced to the front line, only able to move forward and not backward. Many times I cried from anger and anxiety, hiding in the changing room to wipe my tears before coming out to continue working with them. I told myself that I must win. Now, all the members of the team have become skilled workers; they are diligent and hardworking, and the freeze-dried powder injection workshop has become a benchmark workshop in the pharmaceutical factory.

After moving into the new factory, eight years have passed in the blink of an eye, and my thinking has quietly changed. Although I am just an ordinary packaging workshop team leader, I bear a heavy responsibility. The reproductive products produced by the workshop have an 80% market share, with an annual output of over 20 million bottles, and this number will continue to rise. I deeply understand that as the last process in drug production, we must not only be responsible for our products but also for the countless patients.