As many companies are reassessing their supply chain structures and taking advantage of new technologies such as cloud, automation, IoT, etc., investing in holistic digital transformation has become necessary. These solutions help simplify real-time shipment tracking, ensuring products are delivered on time while meeting local regulatory requirements.
India’s pharmaceutical and healthcare industry has played a leading role in the fight against COVID-19 during the pandemic. From managing the supply chain of nearly two billion vaccine doses in the country to ensuring flawless vaccine shipments to more than 100 countries, supply chains have been at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic. However, the pharmaceutical industry has also faced significant challenges such as drug stock-outs, last-mile service delivery issues, poorly equipped warehouses, shortage of skilled labor, etc. .
Aspects such as tracking (from a compliance perspective) and digitization (from an operational perspective) are essential in the pharmaceutical industry. For the most part, the pharmaceutical industry has taken a conventional approach to most business procedures. However, if the industry is to reach its full potential, a paradigm shift from production skills to operational efficiency is the need of the hour. This is where a well-functioning supply chain plays a vital role. Real-time visibility and coordination provides full traceability, a key aspect in the pharmaceutical industry.
The pharmaceutical industry has not been immune to the e-commerce trend. Patients cannot choose their prescriptions, but they can decide where to acquire them. Their decision is heavily influenced by product availability and price, which has made supply chains even more strategic for all players. This requires complex inventory strategies that cannot be achieved with legacy, non-integrated supply chain technologies.
As many companies are reassessing their supply chain structures and taking advantage of new technologies such as cloud, automation, IoT, etc., investing in holistic digital transformation has become necessary. These solutions help simplify real-time shipment tracking, ensuring products are delivered on time while meeting local regulatory requirements. Temperature monitoring and tracking software is now integrated with transportation management systems (TMS), which is a significant step forward given the growing demand for supply chain visibility.
Visibility within the pharmaceutical supply chain is all about knowing your network and supply base, locating bottlenecks, and having real-time information to know where products are at any given time. network point; from bottling and labeling, to storage and distribution, and home delivery. It is also imperative for pharmaceutical companies to consider cloud software platforms that can act as the backbone of their supply chains, ensuring that all participants – manufacturers, 3PLs, distributors, etc. have complete visibility across the entire product journey, providing a clear record as the product moves through each stage of the entire global supply chain process.
Organizations can now streamline supply chain operations with the built-in capabilities of modern supply chain systems, which include warehouse management, transportation fulfillment, performance tracking, niche optimization and workforce management. This improves accuracy and decreases human interaction, while increasing performance and reducing inventory carrying costs. Supply chain systems can be simplified by coordinating the manufacturing, distribution, and design of pharmaceutical items across supply chain divisions. Organizations will be able to plan more correctly and more cost effectively. These accelerating trends in the pharmaceutical industry are set to continue for some time to come.
