Lilly: Breaking Down Silos in Building 88

Eli Lilly announced that it will be moving 1,000 key employees from its (leased) Faris facilities in Indy to its (owned) downtown corporate center, where it is renovating Building 88 and establishing its Development Center of Excellence, aimed at getting drugs to market faster. It's part of Lilly's fully-integrated pharmaceutical network (FIPNet) initiative that, as CEO John Lechleiter says in the press release, will encourage "deeper collaboration within our own walls." Inside Indiana Business has a podcast with Lilly spokesperson Christine Van Marter, who explains the company's strategy to create an integrated, collaborative environment in Building 88 to bring professionals together on a daily basis who in the past were at separate buildings or even separate campuses at Lilly.

The move will mean displacing people from Faris, and Lechleiter indicates that, under the new strategy, Lilly's best and brightest can get used to going where they are needed--all in the name of breaking down silos.

--PWT