4 Ways to Utilize Technology in your Pharma Supply Chain

With the swift pace of technological advancement in the life science space, pharmaceutical companies have begun adopting new tools more rapidly than ever before. In fact, opting for new tech has become almost pivotal to increasing everyday efficiency and decreasing company costs along your supply chain. In this article we’ll discuss some of these emerging tech novelties including artificial intelligence, IoT, blockchain, and process automation, and dive into why they’re so beneficial to your pharma supply chain. 

1. Artificial Intelligence  

It can be difficult for pharmaceutical professionals to keep their supply chain running smoothly. With the combination of lack of visibility, unexpected incidents, plant closures, or transportation problems, this job can be very difficult. Even further, the typical supply chain process includes many products, each with their own spare parts and critical components that are defined using multiple characteristics. This results in a lot of moving parts and potential human error. 

Luckily, through the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, your company can prepare for these types of issues. With AI, your supply chain has the ability to not only collect important data, but to also learn from this information over time. This means that the longer your AI runs, the better it will learn to prepare for possible delays in the supply process, better meet customer needs, and to allocate resources more efficiently. So, your company can go from working in response to issues to preparing proactively. Even further, because you’ll have the ability to analyze data from multiple sources, your supply chain manager can ensure complete visibility throughout your processes. 

2. IoT (Internet of Things)

Similar to the capabilities of AI, IoT grants your company the gift of information and visibility. IoT, or Internet of Things, refers to the billions of physical devices around the world that are connected to the internet, all collecting and sharing data. Supply chain managers can activate IoT sensors and attach them to different items throughout their supply process, giving them a clear picture of where items are and if they’re on schedule.  

In addition, using the data that IoT has access to, your company can begin predicting failures and human error before they occur. Just as AI does, IoT can analyze information and learn as it processes data. This quality control software can predict demand for certain products and will suggest possible ways to reroute supply materials accordingly. This allows for continuous manufacturing that doesn’t always need to be supervised, increasing overall supply availability and production.  

3. Blockchain

Although the term blockchain is generally associated with cryptocurrency, this technology actually has vast potential in the pharma supply chain sphere. It is defined as a decentralized and shared database of transactions that is maintained across several computers linked in a peer-to-peer network. The majority of blockchain supply chain projects are only in the beginning stages, however, The International Data Corporation (IDC) forecasts: “To lessen stress on the service supply chain, by 2023, 25 per cent of office management and enterprise services will leverage blockchain to improve process accuracy and lower expedite costs by 45 per cent.” 

The two major ways this technology is expected to help pharma professionals manage their supply chains is in increased supply chain transparency and decreased costs. Blockchain gives companies the ability to digitize their physical products and create a record of all transactions, allowing them to track these assets along their route from manufacturing to distribution. This tracking provides a higher level of visibility to both businesses and consumers. Even further, having access to this tracking information means a likely reduction in miscommunication and human errors. Your company can spend less time validating data and more time delivering a quality product. In the long run, this saves your production line both time and money. 

Automating your supply chain and business processes using software like Document Control and Specification Management System (SMS) can save your company time and increase your speed to market. By automating the workflow of key business processes, you can increase process efficiency and significantly reduce the time and resources needed for regulatory compliance activities. When you implement an SMS, employees no longer have to complete tedious, time-consuming tasks and the frustrations of not being able to find information quickly disappear. Efficiencies gained when using an SMS include: 

• • Easily search for common traits among your products and locate where components are used in your product line 
  • Replicate similar specifications to avoid manual data input, making the creation of similar specs take minutes instead of hours 
  • Manage R&D and commercial specs in the same system, allowing approved R&D specs to be converted to commercial production when applicable
  • Link to related documents such as artwork, technical drawings, die lines, work instructions, packaging instructions, raw materials and unlimited file types to create BOMs 
  • Automate email notifications to suppliers and stakeholders when specs and docs become effective or need review and approval 
  • Easily create BOMs and Finished Goods and manage both component qty/units AND packaging information (palletization, master data, etc.) all in one specification 
  • Add critical attributes to specs for identifying customers, locations and quantities 
  • Produce reports with attachments and subordinate specs/references/drawings and configure reports for different audiences 

Upgrading your supply chain technology is imperative to bettering your overall processes. If you are looking for an organization to help you improve your pharmaceutical supply chain quality management, DocXellent can help. We are glad to advise you on how you can accomplish your goals and demonstrate how our document control and specification management software, ENSUR, can maximize your company’s efficiency. Contact us today.