Supply Chain Visibility in Pharmaceuticals: Tools & Techniques

The pharmaceutical supply chain is exceptionally complex because it includes a diverse selection of raw materials and manufactured goods that must be maintained at exact conditions to ensure the best product is delivered. Considering the overall sensitivity of most pharmaceutical products to external stimuli, time and quality control is critical. Pharmaceutical companies spend millions of dollars every year in maintaining and improving their supply chains. However, all these efforts are a waste if companies don’t have visibility across the entire chain.

Simply put, supply chain visibility in pharmaceuticals is a pharma company’s ability to track and monitor the movement of all raw materials and products from the start to the end—that is, from raw material sourcing to customer delivery. Realistically, achieving this is time- and resource-consuming. However, it has many advantages.

What’s the Role of Supply Chain Visibility?

It reduces risk.

Successful visibility implementation allows pharma companies to reduce risk by identifying problems before they occur. For example, a company can determine whether a raw material shipment batch has been compromised/damaged and then alter the downstream processes to meet targets. Furthermore, in case of compromised raw materials, the company does not need to recall all products sold during the period; they can just recall specific batches by contacting locations where they were shipped.

It ensures product quality and safety.

Successful visibility implementation allows pharma companies to track both raw materials and finished goods. Hence, they can identify whether a crucial quality control parameter has been breached. For example, if the temperature fluctuates during transportation. Then, appropriate measures can be taken to solve the problem, ensuring the final product the customer consumes has the highest quality and is safe.

It supports regulatory compliance.

Many regulatory agencies like the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) require that pharma companies have comprehensive traceability of raw materials and goods. Complete supply chain visibility ensures this requirement is met. Furthermore, centralized data helps pharma companies become audit-ready. Companies can readily and accurately answer questions during audits and recall by documenting the entire process due to successful visibility implementation.

It improves efficiency and transparency.

Accurate, real-time data collection using visibility tools allows companies to plan their manufacturing processes, ensuring their production always meets the mark. Supply chain visibility in pharmaceuticals also improves the overall efficiency of operations by identifying bottlenecks and regular challenges in the supply chain. It also increases transparency across the supply chain, allowing companies a detailed oversight of all aspects related to their products.

It helps build resilient supply chains.

Supply chain visibility in pharmaceuticals helps build resilient supply chains that can withstand random disruptions. With end-to-end visibility, companies can rapidly respond to challenges like natural disasters and raw material shortages. Then, by collaborating with suppliers, vendors, and other stakeholders, the company can develop alternatives or solutions to ensure minimal impact of such issues on the different aspects of the supply chain.

These advantages, while seemingly simple, are huge for any pharma company. Supply chain visibility ensures the company can provide the best quality products without any challenges. However, successful visibility implementation is not simple. Currently, different pharma companies use different visibility tools to enhance supply chain visibility.

Visibility Tools and Technologies: Overview of Key Tools and Technologies for Enhancing Supply Chain Visibility

Here are some standard tools that have been implemented for enhancing supply chain visibility in pharma:

Internet of Things (IoT)

IoT has exceptional potential in enhancing supply chain visibility as it can be used for real-time monitoring of conditions in storage facilities and during transportation for pharma products like vaccines and biologics. IoT devices can provide real-time data that can be used to monitor possible fluctuations in environmental factors that can lead to product damage, allowing responsible personnel to quickly adjust these fluctuations so as not to compromise the entire product batch.

Blockchain

Blockchain allows companies to create a transparent and inflexible record of every transfer related to a product. For example, the transport of products throughout the supply chain can be tracked, improving traceability and reducing regulatory compliance. It also ensures counterfeit drugs are not introduced into the supply chain because blockchain ledgers are uneditable—once an entry is made, it cannot be edited or changed—ensuring there are no fraudulent attempts.

Radio frequency identification (RFID)

RFID has the most promising potential in helping pharma companies enhance their supply chain visibility. RFID tags can identify each unique unit and distinguish between units based on their shape, size, and colour. Hence, RFID tags can be attached to each individual unit before it is shipped from the manufacturing plant. These tags can then be verified at each subsequent stage. Because the tags provide detailed information regarding each unit (shape, size, and colour), any tampering attempt will be easily identified, preventing counterfeit drugs from entering the supply chain.

Transportation management systems

Transportation management systems are an excellent solution for tracking the on-ground transportation of products. These systems help track shipments from one facility to another and can also be used to optimize transportation routes and schedules. These systems can be further integrated with IoT to create a dashboard that tracks both the shipment location and the environmental conditions of the product. This is an especially promising solution for shipping time- and quality-sensitive pharmaceuticals like vaccines.

Warehouse management systems

Like transportation management systems, warehouse management systems can be implemented to track the inventory and its condition during storage. Integrating IoT with warehouse management systems will ensure the quality of the products is maintained throughout storage. It can also be used to maintain ideal inventory levels and manage shipment downstream of the supply chain.

Unfortunately, the implementation of these visibility tools and technologies is still at a nascent stage. While many companies are studying the practicality of these technologies, their implementation still faces several challenges.

Challenges facing Supply Chain Visibility in Pharmaceuticals

Data challenges

Successful visibility implementation depends heavily on the availability of relevant, high-quality data. However, obtaining this data is difficult because it requires technological integration in almost all aspects of the supply chain, which is time-consuming and expensive. Furthermore, identifying patterns and trends or gaining relevant insights from the obtained data is not straightforward, as it requires a lot of data preparation.

Financial challenges

The implementation of visibility tools and technologies is expensive. In addition to these tools' purchase, maintenance, and upgrading costs, companies also need to invest in personnel training to get the most out of their investment. This high upfront investment is impossible for small-sized pharma companies and may be especially difficult for companies operating across multiple regions or continents.

Regulatory challenges

While enhancing supply chain visibility is in the best interest of the company’s compliance goals, implementation needs to be done to ensure all data practices are compliant with regulatory guidelines. This poses additional challenges as existing processes and frameworks may need to be modified. It may also raise security concerns, which must be resolved to remain compliant.

Bottom Line

In an effort to prevent counterfeit drugs from entering their supply chains and improve the resilience of supply chains, pharma companies are implementing new tools and technologies to enhance supply chain visibility. Currently, many visibility tools and technologies are gaining popularity, including IoT, RFID tags, and management systems. However, the successful implementation of technologies still depends on a company’s ability to overcome regulatory, financial, and data restrictions. Ultimately, supply chain visibility has significantly more advantages than doubt, so slowly but surely, we can expect all companies to integrate their unique tools to enhance it.



FAQs

1. What is a key aspect of supply chain visibility?

Supply chain visibility in pharmaceuticals depends primarily on data, including collecting data from reliable sources and reliably and appropriately analyzing it.

2. Does supply chain visibility help prevent drug counterfeiting?

Yes, successful visibility implementation ensures products can be tracked across the supply chain, reducing opportunities for tampering.

3. What is the future of supply chain visibility in pharmaceuticals?

Supply chain visibility has promising prospects in pharmaceuticals. However, future adoption depends on the integration of upcoming technologies like IoT and blockchain. It also depends on improving collaboration across all partners in the supply chain.