This week, we welcomed over 500 attendees to our Temperature Controlled Logistics online series. This three day series of interactive webinars discussed the latest technology disrupting the pharmaceutical supply chain, how to address deviations, implement real time monitoring and drive collaboration. Below we recap the key points from each session.
Using disruptive tech to handle supply chain disruptions
Dan Mirica, former Head of Global Logistics, Lonza and VP of Innovation & Strategy at Health Vector
In this session, Dan shared the most important technology set to disrupt the supply chain and gave insight into how companies are using these to their advantage when they face supply chain disruptions.
Dan told the audience that his favorite solutions available currently are IoT and blockchain. IoT can allow supply chain professionals to collect and streamline their real time data then quickly action any type of disturbance. Whereas blockchain can provide a platform equipped to track the provenance and authenticity of any decision and documents, from the start to end of the entire supply chain.
When asked about how to get started with this type of technology, Dan recommended running a pilot, project or proof of concept on a small scale and then using this test to learn and scale up in a cost effective way.
His final tip for the audience was to partner with regulators when implementing their technology and view them as a resource. He believes that an early dialogue and partnership is critical.
To hear the full session, watch on-demand now
From ‘Pilot’ to ‘Program’: How to achieve a fully integrated and digitized supply chain
Tonino Antonetti, Executive Director, Regulatory Affairs, Quality Management, Safety, Health & Environment, Roche Diagnostics
In this session, Tony tackled the next stage of moving towards digitized supply – how you scale from pilot to program.
Sharing insight on how to make a change stick within your organization, he told the audience that one of the most important steps is to fully understand and clearly identify what you want to improve. You need to know what you do need to change and what project you should start with. He emphasized that you should not try to make too many changes at once, not only is it overwhelming for you, but it will likely be rejected by your employees. Instead, prioritize your effort and steadily move through them.
When asked what to do if a change has not worked as planned, Tony recommended that you approach the situation with honest and transparency. Not every theory will work in practice and it is ok to make errors, but to maintain trust, you need to own up to these issues.
His final piece of advice for the audience was to; get the buy in of your leadership team, do your homework beforehand and reward your employees.
To find out more, watch on-demand now
From first mile to last mile: How to enhance supply chain collaboration
Ruben Dario Taborda, Senior Director, Hospital and Distributor Supply Chain Solutions, Johnson & Johnson
In this session, Ruben shared how Johnson & Johnson have approached supply chain collaboration and how you can start building better relationships.
When asked about the foundations for strong relationships, Ruben said that trust is the critical pillar that anchors the relationship.
He also shared that if one of the best methods to collaborate is to not push your customers or partners. Instead, taking the time to sit down with them and listen to their pain point will allow you to move past the surface level requests and opportunity and help you get to the true issue. From this, you can then utilize your own data to find a workable solution for both parties.
He also noted the importance of a team with the right capabilities and of sharing success stories. The small wins will build, but you should still showcase them from the start and celebrate your success.
To hear more from Ruben, watch on-demand now
Three strategies to get to the root cause of your temperature deviations
Hashim Ahmed, GL Supply Chain Integrity Senior Analyst, GlaxoSmithKline
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In this session, Hashim helped the audience get to the real root cause of their temperature deviations and devise solutions to address them.
He discussed GSK’s method to finding the real root cause of this issue and shared the importance of going deeper to find the true plausible cause. He shared how they categorize which deviations to follow up with and how to ask the right questions during the process.
He also stressed the importance of separating the investigations between the finance/insurance side and the quality side. Having faced challenges from 3PLs being defensive or the combination complicating investigations, they have found it more productive to focus a team just on the quality side.
Hashim also discussed the importance of setting achievable CAPAs, bound to a date and ownership. One of the core aspects to a good CAPA is whether it is realistic. There will be suggested actions that are not realistic or cost-effective in the long term, so it is important to critically review the measures you put in place to solve the issue.
For more on root causes and effective CAPAs, watch on-demand now
Real Time Monitoring: Will full supply chain visibility transform how we manage the cold chain?
Ada Palmadottir, MBA, MPharm, Director of Business Development & Jessie VanderVeen, VP Marketing, Controlant
In this session, Ada and Jessie shared four case studies of how real time monitoring is having an impact on air shipments, sea freight, truck shipments and lane validation studies.
They discussed the impacts that real time monitoring can have on supply chain management. Such as, being able to shed light on previously unknown issues and start to manage by exception. There is also increased accountability which can stop disputes over responsibility. You can have faster releases, get products to market quicker and address any problems early on. You can also focus efforts on problem shipments and uncover where the real weak points in your supply chain are.
When asked how to get started, Ada shared that it is best to run a test within your own organization. You can strategically pick a lane and then run the test yourself and see how it can improve your efficiency. Following this, you can scale up, but if you want to get buy in from others in your organization, they may need to see it in practice on their own products.
Ada and Jessie answered a number of questions on the global adoption of real time monitoring, how to customize the flow of information, how issues can be communicated 24/7 and which products and operations are best suited for this technology.
For full insight on the technology and case studies, watch on-demand now