Techno Limits

When it comes to integrating the pharma cold-chain, technology is invariably seen as having a big part to play. However, it can also form a big part of the problem. Here Alan Kennedy examines the virtues and limitations of technology when it comes to collaborative solutions. First of all, just in case I am in any danger of ruffling a few super-sensitive IT feathers, let me explain that I am a huge fan of technology and its capabilities when employed beneficially. Indeed, ever since I spent a ridiculous proportion of my meagre student allowance on an early Sinclair computing device back in the 1980s I have been wedded to the benefits of digitisation and its potential for good. So don't get me wrong, when it comes to the integration of complex pharma-logistics networks, I understand that technology will always be a big part of any practical solution. But technology can never be the whole solution. Nor does the introduction of technology automatically bring benefits. As business magnate, celebrated philanthropist and brilliant software architect Bill Gates once said - The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency. Emotions For a start, technology is only as good as the thinking and quality behind it (Think Hubble telescope and Soviet performance-enhancing drugs). Secondly, it can let you down. Badly. (Think Chernobyl and thalidomide). And always when you least need or expect it. (Think NASA Challenger). Thirdly, when used blindly or incorrectly, technology can make a problem worse or create problems of unintended consequence. [eventPDF] Finally, and this is one of the big problems when it comes to supply chain management, it can lead to complacency and delusion. (Here think collaboration and supply chain integration). Just as proxy 'friendships' through social media are no substitute for the real thing, so strings of binary code and clever algorithms are utterly unable to display human emotions, incapable of thinking 'out-of-the box' and completely useless at exercising real-world intuition ("Do you read me HAL?"1). Analogue World You see, (and notwithstanding what some would have you believe), we don't actually inhabit a digital world. We live in an analogue world; a natural, organic environment; a biological setting within which man's hominal ingenuity has conceived a conglomeration of digital tools to make our lives easier (though hardly simpler!). For example, my 'smart' mobile phone allows me to talk to someone on the other side of the world. But although the phone apparatus and its underlying telecoms infrastructure makes this possible, the sophisticated technology involved has no bearing whatsoever on the topics I discuss, the ideas I examine or the inherent quality of the conversation itself. Like all IT instruments, hard and soft, a phone is just a utensil that, to state the oft-ignored obvious, is only as good as its user. Moreover, technology can be somewhat less than predictable. For example, I can rarely get a mobile phone signal at my home address. Understandably, this makes me a bit hesitant to rely on cell-phones for emergency use since I am acutely aware just how rickety this 'amazing' technology can be. It is this mis-placed confidence in, and over-reliance on, technology that has the potential to derail an entire pharma-logistics integration project. More than occasionally I have seen collaboratively-disposed organisations skilfully seduced by smooth-talking software salesmen who tell them that the answer to improving supply chain management simply rests in more ‘computerisation’ or a 'better system'. And, sometimes, these sales sharks are (partly) right. But, as I have said, although technology, particularly Information Technology, is an essential ingredient for commercial collaborations; it is never, EVER, sufficient. Why is this? IT cannot possibly be the answer to all your supply chain prayers. Because it's just a tool. Undoubtedly an extremely useful tool that can make collaboration easier and more productive. But IT doesn't actually create collaborative relationships nor can IT physically integrate your supply network. Pharma businesses have to be careful not to get fooled into thinking that technology per se is the solution to all their problems. For both ethical and scientific reasons, in business and all other human endeavours, technology should support us taking decisions; it should not take them for us. Whatever the futurologists are telling us, the reality is that we live in the here and now, a reality where digital technology complements, but doesn't replace, human capabilities. "We should not confuse processing power with intelligence; or intelligence with free will and the ability to choose objectives; or the ability to take decisions based on information with the ability to make judgements based on values."2 Until real artificial intelligence arrives at an affordable cost, IT will always be nothing more more than a facilitation tool. So, before bringing technology into the picture, pharma companies and their suppliers need to fully understand the nature and causes of their logistics challenges and determine the part IT can play in their resolution. For integration to bring lasting benefits it must be enacted throughout the supply chain - from the Big Pharma client at one end to the smallest service provider at the other. Real supply chain integration requires time, commitment and top to bottom adoption. Deep-seated attitudes must be addressed through a root and branch realignment of personal beliefs and corporate values. Visibility However, once a company has done this and identified and mapped its needs, technology has a decisive role to play in the creation of an efficiently integrated logistics system. For example, the deployment of appropriate IT is instrumental in the tracking of pharma shipments and in the continuous monitoring of the shipping environment. However, never forget that the full benefits will only accrue with an IT platform that permits the data generated, and the corresponding actionable analytics, to be shared right across the logistics network concerned. Cross-network IT platforms can also facilitate communications and enable the transparent measuring and monitoring of network performance against predefined KPIs/milestones in areas such as shipment status, temperature excursions and on-time delivery performance. Such a ‘control tower’ system can generate network-shared performance reports and allows problems to be readily identified and corrective action taken quickly. What about Big Data? Technology produces data and advanced data analytics are currently all the rage. Rightfully so, according to many. Because for the pharma-logistics sector to exhibit the agility, transparency and risk-control characteristics that are critical in this fast-changing world it needs to be leading the way when it comes to capturing, interpreting and acting on data. But with all the hope, hype and hubbub being attached to "Big Data" it is easy to get carried away and forget that a little good data is worth a lot more than a lot of bad data. There is a huge difference between numbers and numbers that have value. Data, however 'big', is worthless unless it is useable and you know how to use it. Underpinned Pharma companies are beginning to understand the value inherent in their logistics networks chains. But many continue to sink huge sums of money on distribution management systems which are never going to pay off, simply because these systems are not underpinned by the right culture, attitudes and understanding amongst the participating organisations. To integrate your pharma-logistics network in the Information Age, the 'killer app' you need is neither hard nor soft, digital nor mechanical. It's cultural. In my next article "Blowing Cold", I will be looking at the barriers presumed, perceived and patent, to pharma-logistics integration. How does pharma-logistics compare with other industries? Early exponents of integrated supply chains in the retail, oil, construction and other sectors realised, some sooner than others, that having the technical capability and mental inclination to integrate data across a supply chain is of very limited value in the absence of a genuine collaborative working environment.

For example, the advent of high-tech Building Information Modelling (BIM) has positively compelled cross-party collaborative working in the built-environment world. BIM is completely transforming the construction of large, complex buildings and structures (even to the extent that the UK government has mandated its use on large public projects). The BIM concept envisages virtual construction of a facility prior to its actual physical construction, in order to reduce risk, improve safety, lower costs, accelerate progress, work out problems in advance and simulate potential impacts.

However, in the face of early operational difficulties it was quickly realised that, as a software-based connect-and-share solution, functional BIM is totally dependent on a high degree of intimacy between all the parties in the construction chain. In other words, before a BIM software system is even switched on, the necessary trust, respect and collaborative disposition must be embedded throughout the planning, design, supply and build sequences and ultimately extended to the owning, operating and maintaining parties.

Sources 1 The words of Dr David Bowman speaking to the HAL 9000 computer on board spaceship Discovery One in the MGM motion picture '2001: A Space Odyssey'. 2 Three human qualities digital technology can’t replace in the future economy: experience, values and judgement. Rick Robinson, The Urban Technologist, April 2013 Have Your Say Rate this feature and give us your feedback in the comments section below