it goes on ...
and on ...
He is a dummy. Manufacturing is only as good as the process and how well quality control detects and corrects issues. If the process and QA is horrible (like it is now) outsourcing will not fix anything. Get competent people in QA and hire experts who know process and outsourcing will not be needed. In the old days everyone at Merck was the best in class regardless of the position. Now we have fools in important positions (QA) that give upper management (fools also) an excuse to move jobs elsewhere.
HR, PLEASE READ: clip QA before your job gets outsourced also.
The last thing sweet willie would want is accountable people in QA. There is a good chance that he put the most incompetence people there on purpose so the outsourcing can be done quicker. It's called the scorched earth way of managing.
I've seen it firsthand - QA spends more of their energy figuring out how to get questionable stuff released than it does getting problems properly fixed so that they will not re-occur. Of course, QA has lots of rules and regulations and SOPs but when push comes to shove, management can always get objections swept aside. If the leaders of the manufacturing group actually had really useful prior experience, they would be 10 X more efficient at spotting serious issues than any outside auditor. And formerly with Merck, if your management spotted deficiencies in your area, such a discovery could be career-threatening. But those outside auditors still are finding things so it must mean only one of three things: The management are clueless about the people, facilities, products, processes, and systems they manage; management is not spending any time looking for deficiencies; or management just doesn't care. Or perhaps all three? God help the general public when its products get 100% supplied from the outside - under (by then) even more under-informed, absentee dimwitted Merck "vigilance". Merck now sells what provides profitable self-convenience - not any real quality.
The issues is QA is a group of people who really don't have what it takes to do such an important job. I don't think they even understand or even care that they can destroy someones life or worse yet a child's. They have a black heart and no soul if they would move a dirty product because they are scared. Old Merck people did what was right and we had a good reputation. Now we are spineless cowards who would put people in harms way for the dollar. I hate to write it but maybe the words cowards and c*nts do describe the Merck QA department.