Our technical skills and scientific knowledge are very important for our business – but they are far from being sufficient! It is not enough to find alternative routes of synthesis with better yields, improve product impurity profile, turn poorly efficient routes into commercial processes and develop engineer solutions that make it happen - we must know how to communicate! The truly competitive factor in our business is people related. It has to do with building trust and rapport with customer and meeting expectations.
Contrary to what you may think, this is not just a Sales job. Each of us that interacts with a customer – whether by e-mail, letter, via reports, by telephone or when the customer visits our plants – has an enormous responsibility to create a good “experience”.

How is this achieved? By excellent communication skills.

You may think that by speaking about ourselves, our way of doing things or our know-how you will please a customer. However the correct approach is exactly the opposite. When you speak you are saying something that you already know. When you listen you discover what the customer knows, ie what their concerns are, why the timeline they are giving us is so critical… or maybe not that much, what is the real reason of their urgency or request. Once you understand that, you can add to what you say and suggest to this customer something more worthwhile. Below are just a few very simple examples of how to create rapport with the customer, how to show them our interest and how to build trust.
 

Rapport	Reliability	Interest
Focusing on the customer, on his business Asking the right questions, those that show you know the problem, ideally questions that the customers has not thought about Be honest and transparent – be courteous and friendly If a good idea comes up at the meeting, ensure that it is from the customer	Showing up on time (conference calls, meetings, answering on time) Doing what you say you will do, when you said you will do it. Be consistent. Get the customer used to having no surprises when dealing with Hovione Be prepared. Anticipate questions Return calls quickly	Be interested in understanding the questions Present solutions to address the problems Keep the customer informed, not surprised Never think you know more than the customer If you want to offer an alternative solution, communicate that clearly and make sure the customer wants that extra work before you do it

At the end of the fiscal year we made the usual assessment of our activities. Therefore, Formal Review of the Hovione Group took place in April and May but only at Loures and Macau plants, with the Research Centre of New Jersey scheduled for July. This postponement was due to the need to prepare the pilot scale for its first FDA inspection that should take place this summer.
At the Macau and Loures Formal Review the performance of the various areas of the company was analyzed and the degree of objectives achieved for 2006 was the following:

Area Objectives	Top Objectives

Priority Objectives: In 2007 we must do better!

At the closing meeting, held on May 18th in Loures, the main objectives for 2007 were defined.

During Hovione Macau Formal Review, last April, occurred the handover from Luis Gomes to Jorge Pastilha. The photo shows the four general managers of Hovione Macau since the foundation in 1986 till now:

(From left to right)
Jorge Pastilha (2007- ); Luis Gomes (2000–2007); Carlos Costa (1994–2000) and Guy Villax (1986–1994).

Hovione has contributed for the second time to the success of the China Chemical Summit which is held in Shanghai, each year in April. Our most important Chinese suppliers are invited for this event. Hovione was represented by 9 people (4 from Loures, 2 from Macau, 2 from Hong Kong and 1 from the USA). The Portuguese Consul General, Dr. João Maria Cabral honored us with his presence. The China Chemical Summit is organized by SOCMA and the American Chemical Society. Through CEFIC, Hovione works in conjunction with the Chinese industrial associations to coordinate the monitoring of good manufacturing practices in order to improve the quality of pharmaceutical production in China. This is another aspect of our globalization strategy.

VIII PAPS – New York, USA
On March 24th, the University of Colombia in New York staged the VIII PAPS Forum – Portuguese American Postgraduate Society- an association of postgraduate students living in the USA. Under the theme “A Roadmap for Portugal – Science, Technology and Innovation”, the main purpose of the forum was to debate the future of innovation in Portugal in areas as diverse as Science and Technology. The Portuguese Ambassador to the USA, João Vallêra, hosted the forum welcoming more than 120 Portuguese students who gathered there to attend the lectures given by renowned speakers.
In recognition for Hovione’s efforts to employ Portuguese PhDs, Guy Villax, Hovione’s CEO, representing the private sector, was invited to participate in one of the debates on career opportunities in Portugal. He presented Hovione’s commitment to R&D and its continued interest in recruiting PhDs from different areas of expertise.
Besides Hovione, other career opportunities in Portugal were presented by other organizations attending the conference, such as: Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, ES Capital, Tema Inovação e Design, among others.
The VIII PAPS Forum was noted for the stimulating exchange of ideas, revealing the best of what is done in Portugal.
Congratulations to the organization! It was a meeting of high standard.

LUSO 2007 – Cambridge, GB
The first Portuguese Students and Researchers Meeting held in the United Kingdom on June 9th, brought to Cambridge around 150 participants. This is an initiative that aims to promote interaction between students and researchers and to discuss matters concerning research in Portugal and in the United Kingdom and publicize academic and business opportunities.
The program comprised three sections:
(i) Academic history- focusing specially on the speakers’ personal experience with the intent of illustrating different academic and business paths;
(ii) Opportunities – publicizing of academic and business opportunities of institutions and companies while stressing the importance of relationships between the world of research and the Portuguese business tissue.
(iii) Debate – discussion of strategies to improve the quality of research in Portugal and to promote interaction between universities and companies.
Hovione was invited to witness its experience, with the presence of Edgar Alexandre. LUSO 2008 can count on our presence!

With the purpose of promoting its economic, environmental and social commitment, Hovione issues this year its first sustainability report at Group level. This document will focus essentially on three distinct areas: Economic performance, Health, Safety and Environment and finally Social Responsibility. Hovione’s objective with the publication of this report is to improve operational performance, achieve its transparency policy, promote reliability and attract new talents.

Thanks to a greater awareness and commitment of all the staff and service providers at Hovione, 2006 saw a significant improvement in our general performance in terms of safety, health and environment. Worthy of note is the lack of complaints from neighbors in 2006, whereas in 2005, 8 complaints were recorded, mainly relating to noise and odors. With the help of everyone, it was possible to immediately prevent and correct all situations which could have given rise to new complaints. The new Safety, Health and Environment Management System was certified by SGS in January in accordance with ISO14001 (environment) and its OHSAS 18001(health and safety) certification is also expected at the beginning of 2008. We now have to maintain this positive commitment which is only made possible by the involvement and cooperation of everyone.

Hovione has, since 2005, been evaluating and testing a new “in process” quality control procedure. This is the PAT (Process Analytical Technologies) procedure, which is no more than bringing together the process and the control laboratory (IPC). This technology provides answers in real time with laboratory reliability, resulting in more efficient and quicker adjustments to the process.
At Hovione we already use the following PAT equipment:
A. Validated:
- An Ultra-Violet measuring device (UV) to measure the concentration of product/water on columns – in the carrier phase of the process.
- Refractive index (concentration) measuring device

B. Already tested but still to be validated:
- Mass spectrometry for drying control
- Size of particles released by product after drying
- In-line concentration for control of sodium dissolution.
These applications are the result of work developed by the PAT team who, together with the production lines, has already obtained many practical results from this technique.

Rainbow Project was successfully implemented in Macau and Hong-Kong, it went LIVE on the 2nd of April 2007. This project covered SAP, LIMS as well as other important applications with the objective of standardizing the way Hovione works in all sites. By concentrating all companies in the same systems makes information much easier to obtain and far more organized to consult. This was an important achievement for the Hovione Group and it is the result of a great effort from all Hong-Kong, Macau and Loures Key Users as well ROFF Consultants. Both Teams were working together - 6 months for Macau and about 3 months for Hong-Kong - which allowed not only the exchange of knowledge on the Rainbow applications but at the same time the exchange of such different cultural experiences.
We must also congratulate all Hong-Kong and Macau Staff for the excellent effort and willingness on adapting to all Rainbow applications.
Mgoi say / Thank you.

One of the last visits made by foreign students to Hovione in Portugal happened on last May 9th. After a short tour through Spain, the 31 MBA students from Westminster College chose to visit Hovione as the Portuguese example in the fields of Innovation and Development, which supply the American market.

Project SEED – Science Education for the Economically Disadvantaged - is a program sponsored jointly by the American Chemical Society and local industry which provides high school students, usually 11th graders, with the opportunity to serve as a research assistant in a college or university research laboratory under the supervision of a mentor who has an ongoing research program. Participants must be from families with low incomes. The goal is to identify students who have shown interest in a career in chemistry and ability to do so, but who need encouragement and guidance to get there. As it already happened last year, Hovione again this year helped funding this project.

With the start of the Spring season the New Jersey plant organized a barbecue on the 17th of May. Everyone had a good time along plenty of hamburgers and hotdogs. NB:” Last time I was at a barbecue in NJ, in 2002, we had an FDA inspection to measure the hamburger temperature, to see if they were being grilled at the adequate temperature to kill bacteria!” Guy Villax.

Our colleague Helen Tsang, co-authored with Wendy Wong and Funny Wu, launched her book the "Photography by heart for the love of Yunnan" in July 2006 in relating to her work with orphans in Lijiang, Yunnan Province China.
Over the last five years Helen has been participating and supporting Lijiang orphans in her annual vacation giving them her energy and support in various means such as teaching them English, providing training, organizing and running summer camps for groups of up to 100 and 200 orphans ranging from the age of 11- 17 years old and so forth. Each theme and story in this book is generated from the photos taken mostly in Lijiang, the rural areas and the Lugu Lake (which sits on the Yunnan-Sichuan border about 180 miles from Lijiang and is surrounded by dense forest) during traveling and is accumulated with thoughtful care and beliefs from the children, the youth, the aged and the nature.
Lijiang , located in the southwest of China at 2400m above sea level, is widely acknowledged as a place of outstanding beauty and a UNESCO World Heritage site with different kinds of nationalities as the Han, the Yi, the Bai, the Hani, the Zhuang, the Dai, the Naxi, the Muso and many many others. Streams flow through the streets and houses are built according to the flow of water from the Black Dragon Pool which originates from the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. However, there was a darker side to its beauty as two recent major earthquakes of February 1996 and November 1998, measuring 7.0 and 5.6 respectively on the Richter scale, have resulted in a large population of orphans or "unwanted" children. Because of it, groups and individuals extended their helping hands to this county via different mode of services.
The book can be obtained via publishers www.tangsbooks.com ISBN 962-8787-75-6 and/or some local bookshops in Hong Kong. It is currently only available in Chinese language.. The authors hopes that the book will raise awareness of the children, help to bring hope to lives heart fully as well as to encourage readers to continue to acquire the truth, the kindness and the beauty in life.

Editors: Isabel Pina, Raquel Pereira • With the collaboration of: Carla Vozone; Luisa Paulo; Jorge Pastilha; José Saraiva; António Almas; Paulo Carvalho; Lavinia Emery and Helen Tsang.