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Safety and Security Concern in Pharmaceutical Supply Chain
The Pharmaceutical world is not anyway exception to the marketing malpractices, as according to statistics of World Health Organization (WHO), counterfeit medicines of worth $32 billion are in circulation in drug market. On the other hand, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) told the number of investigations done by it, has just doubled from the total numbers as it occurred in previous year.
One of the worst cases of counterfeit medical scam was registered in US medical history in 2003 when Pfizer discovered tens of thousand of counterfeit bottles of top selling cholesterol medicine, Lipitor. And this discovery of false medicine soon spread to 15 U.S states.
Apart from the monitoring of production of counterfeit medicines, the drug administration authorities also look after the other area of concern that is product expiration. One of the prominent reasons found for product expiration as its being collated in the supply chain for too long before they can be distributed to the retailers.
The Healthcare Distribution Management Association presented a stat that phrama industry annually incur $ 2 billion a year in returns and product losses and another $ 2 billion annually in the costs related to processing returns, expirations and recalls.
In order to regulate the system, the public as well as Congress are trying their lot to bring about a process where a secure supply chain can be established for prescription drugs and counterfeiting can be minimized. To strengthen the process, the US Congress passed the Prescription Drug Marketing Act in 1988, which requires a detailed record of drug’s movement thorough the supply chain from the manufacturer to the medical store. And supplier to the defense authorities is expected to use active and passive RFID tags on shipments to the military.
For a Pharmaceutical firm while tracking a drug through the supply chain there are many points that are needed to be kept in mind. The issues like detecting which drug, from which batch, has been counterfeited needs to be checked out, however, the process of creating a drug from raw material than its packing and shipping is a complex process.
Presently Pharma Industry handles supply of finished product at the batch or lot level and incase any counterfeit is detected then entire batch is recalled thus increasing cost for the manufacturer and the retailer and lost in consumer confidence as well. Moreover, in system of contract manufacturing there are more chances of counterfeit as product is passed through many hands.
However, use of technology can provide a viable solution to this problem as use of barcoding and RFID tags during every stage of supply chain from receipt into and out of inventory to the picking, packing and shipping processes. Track and trace capability from product recalls and product quality. Bar coding and RFID proves to be very effective method for a greater control over product recalls and product quality, and most importantly, pedigree and serialization capabilities can be used with aligning the standards and norms.
Subscribe to the comments for this postBusiness Intelligence And Data Mining, The Latest Trend For Business Forecasting
In a latest trend as observed by the US market, the SMBs (Small and Medium Businesses) are looking at and have started adopting BI (Business Intelligence) method and software tools in planning the business strategy for enhancing performance of the areas like sales and business forecasting thus for increasing revenue and profits. The use of Business intelligence thus has helped them to better understand the positive driving forces for their businesses.
In United States there are nearly 6.3 million SMBs of which 98% are SB (Small Businesses, with staff up to 99 members). This projection came into the focus after a recent survey done by New York- based Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc on United States SB & MB IT assessment. Companies, in order to reach at some decisive node go through extensive data mining process.
The survey report also projected that about 9% SB companies that are pc intensive using Business Intelligence in form of packaged software in comparison to the 37% of Middle business companies.
“PC-enabled SBs in the US are interested in running BI on their consumer data to drive and monitor performance against the competition,” says Nichelle McKenzie, New York-based Research Analyst at AMI-Partners. Further on according to this report about nearly 16% of SBs and 22% of MBs in the America uses Business Intelligence or data mining for generating revenue. The most of the BI is used by SB companies as in ERP/CRM module.
The other factor that lets a company to use BI is the consideration that existing software may not be able to work adequately. BI and data mining software help in statistical forecasting, predictive modeling and problem solving methods to provide strategic information about business positioning.
DHL Express plans to restructuring its operations in United States
In a very crucial move in international logistics and supply chain management, the Deutsche Post World Net, the parent body of the DHL express announced in a press conference on 28th May at its headquarter in Bonn, Germany that the significant reduction in DHL Express’ US operations is in its plans. This announcement at the press conference put an end around all the speculation as about the future of DHL in United States. However, DPWN denied that it is not in mood, completely, closing down operations in US market.
In a series of initiative announced at DWPN press conference for improving infrastructure of DHL one is to jointly work with UPS ( United States Parcel Service) on $10 billion contract to airlift capacity and reduce costs in its ground infrastructure operations, though contract is still undergoing through progress.
DPWN informed that under this contract UPS will provide airlift for DHL Express U.S. domestic and international shipments from airport-to-airport within North America. Presently, DHL is using ABX Air and Astar Air Cargo for these services. This change will help DPWN in a way that it would have from now onward s single airline partner in the United States.
As about the far reaching impact of this restructuring DPWN told that this will reduce aviation costs through outsourcing to UPS thus help to streamline infrastructure by reducing and closing down U.S stations in low density and remote areas and reducing pick up and linehaul delivery routes and ground linehaul sectors by 17 and 18 percent, respectively.
The other benefit of this partnership as expected by DPWN is its deliverance of services to more rural part of the United States with the Help of United States Postal Service. As for its operations and expansion the DHL has invested more than $ 3 billion into the America since 2003 including $ 1.2 billion in infrastructure and distribution, however, according to a Dow Jones report the total loss for previous four years for DHL was $ 3 billion.
Supply Chain Management Market Steady: AMR Research
AMR Research recently announced that it has observed an over all growth in the supply chain management (SCM) applications market in 2005. This slight growth of 3% is significant in the current market scenario. The market seems to be greatly effected by various factors such as globalization, leaner supply networks, increasing customer expectations, higher mass customization, and increased demand variability.
Mark Hillman, a senior research analyst at AMR Research stated that more and more companies are spending increased amounts on implementing supply chain initiatives. Vendors are innovating more under pressure from companies that want specific and very versatile solutions. However he noted that adoption of this technology is still relatively low. This is so because the market still has to see corporates maturing up to the concept and adopting the technology in big way. The top 5 vendors according to the report are – SAP, Oracle, i2 Technologies, Manhattan Associates and Infor. Yahoo reports:
Supply chains are becoming increasingly global, complex, and interdependent — forcing companies to extend planning beyond the four walls. Largely due to this trend, the top SCM application growth area for 2005 was the inventory configuration and policy technology category, which posted a healthy license growth rate of 35%.
Ryder Hailed Year 2005 Supplier by GM
Getting an honor from the best is always a talk of the town. Ryder System Inc. , now has become the talk of the suppliers’ sphere after attaining the recognition of being made supplier of the year 2005 by the General Motors. Ryder System is a Fortune 500 company provides leading-edge transportation, logistics and supply chain management solutions worldwide.
The award was conferred for Ryder’s overall business performance in providing GM with world-class parts and services, which was given at GM’s Vehicle Engineering Center at the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Mich.
Ryder topped the list of 85 suppliers whom GM honored for outstanding performance throughout the last year. Global Purchasing and Supply Chain division of GM has openly declared that Ryder successfully contributed to their demands beyond expectations.
Going overboard, GM could not thank enough Ryder for their hard work and commitment for making GM vehicles world class. According to GM, the award was selected based on selection by a global executive team who took into account purchasing, engineering, manufacturing and logistics of the suppliers GM engages with. They have evaluated supplier performance in quality, service, technology and price. It is quite hard to figure out how the overall evaluation has been done year on year because various suppliers not necessarily supplying same kind of parts for GM.
Company usually looks out in their supplier the ability to augur their profit margins by their services. That is not necessarily reflected by quality of the products actually supplied but we believe GM picks right stuff, don’t we?
Counterfeits Drugs find their way into Pharma Supply Chain
Faced with an ever increasing deluge of counterfeit and under priced drugs, pharmaceutical companies are turning to technologies such as RFID to better track consignments through a porous supply chain. An observation is the more frequently a drug changes hands, the greater the chance of counterfeit drugs entering the legitimate supply chain. Cio reports:
Such a porous supply chain poses hazards to patients—thousands of people worldwide die every year from ingesting fake drugs—and it costs the pharmaceutical industry an estimated US $46 billion a year in lost profits.
Council of Supply Chain management schedules Toronto roundtable for 24th January
The Council of Supply Chain management is holding a Toronto roundtable on fuel pricing and subsequent surcharges on the 24th of January. These are expected to present a major challenge for the Canadian supply chain community. Canadian Transportation and Logistics reports:
The speakers at the roundtable, both experts in their fields, will examine the geopolitical and economic factors affecting supply chain costs and efficiency. The speakers will present risk mitigation strategies that can be adopted by both shippers and carriers to reduce over all supply chain costs.
Oracle to Focus on Logistics, SCM
For garnering a strong share of the US Dollar five billion supply chain management solutions market, Oracle, has recently acquired Global Logistics Technologies (G-Log). The acquisition was aimed at enhancing Oracle’s team in Transportation and Logistics solution in India, besides coordinating with a large number of Indian system Integrators. webindia123 reports:
With the acquisition of G-Log, customers would have access to proven best in class transportation and logistics capabilities combined with comprehensive world-class capabilities in ERP applications and technology infrastructure, company official said and added that this would significantly reduce total cost of ownership, while increasing customers’ ability to operate integrated, information driven enterprise.
AAR Corp. To Provide Supply Chain Support to Mesa Air
AAR CORP. is to reportedly start providing supply chain support for Mesa Air Group, Inc.’s fleet of CRJ 200 regional jet aircraft. Back in August 2005, AAR outlined that it had entered into a ten-year supply chain agreement with Mesa’s fleet of CRJ 700/900 and ERJ 145 regional jets. The supply chain contract covers over 3,600 rotable components, which will be managed and maintained within Mesa’s operating system. The deal was valued at $200 million. Under certain circumstances AAR is to support Mesa’s CRJ-200 fleet as well. AAR has now reportedly closed on the purchase of Mesa’s CRJ 200 inventory and will begin providing supply chain support for Mesa’s CRJ 200 fleet. Finanzen reports:
Closing this phase of the program enables us to provide a customized, end-to-end supply chain program for Mesa’s entire fleet of CRJ and ERJ regional jets," said David P. Storch, President and CEO of AAR. We look forward to providing services and support to help Mesa reduce costs and increase efficiencies while ensuring the highest levels of safety, quality and service.