'Time is life' - how Pfizer uses Celonis to deliver medicines faster with process-first automation

When Conor Riordan talks about order automation at Pfizer, it’s not just about efficiency metrics. It’s realistically about life and death. As the pharmaceutical giant's Director of Customer Service put it during a presentation at Celonis' Celosphere conference in Munich this week:

Time is life in our business.

This thinking shapes everything about Pfizer's approach to process improvement and automation. The company, which employs 81,000 people globally and manufactures 1.4 billion packs of medicine annually, has spent six years building a process intelligence capability with Celonis that now spans every market where it does business. The goal isn't just operational efficiency - it's getting medicines to hospitals, pharmacies, and physicians as quickly as possible.

Currently, 75% of Pfizer's deliveries arrive same day or next day. The company's target is 95% within two years. For hospitals that order medicines three or four ...