By Debra Sherman and Julie Steenhuysen
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Six months into his new job, Cardinal Health Inc.'s (CAH.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) chief executive faces tough decisions on whether to cut losses at the company's troubled drug manufacturing unit and how to heal bruised relationships after a drastic consolidation of the customer service operation.
R. Kerry Clark, who spent more than three decades at Procter & Gamble Co. (PG.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), is attempting to turn the sprawling medical products and drugs distribution company -- built over 30 years through some 100 acquisitions -- into a sharply focused operating company.
In his first interview as CEO, Clark on Thursday admitted some mistakes have been made that must be addressed, including the decision to drastically reduce its number of customer service centers.
"We're coming up for air now. It has been tough and it has cost us a bit of business in our (medical-surgical) areas," Clark told the Reuters Health Summit in New York.
"If we had to do it all over again, we should not have gone from 28 (centers) to two overnight. But it was done and we're digging out from it now," he said.
Clark said the company is making progress but said it was still struggling with glitches in its contract drug manufacturing business, likening problems at one New Mexico plant to a major home improvement project gone wrong.
"By the time you are finished, you should have torn the whole thing down," he said.
Clark said he is evaluating whether to sell the company's ailing drug manufacturing business as part of the broad effort to reshape the company. Continued...
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