What are the problems faced in a supply and value chain network?
Supply chains for pharmaceuticals and healthcare products have become increasingly competitive and complex and present all kinds of challenges to each stakeholder in the supply and value chain network, and the pressure keeps growing almost daily.
Typically, a healthcare supply chain involves multiple manufacturing plants; a large number of storage depots and warehouses; packaging and shipping localities; distribution networks; marketplace environments, albeit retailers, direct distribution, or e-commerce & eFulfilment; points of service; and physical fulfilment of orders for a variety of customers – each with its own requirements, restraints and challenges.
Global disruptions like the Covid-19 pandemic necessitate a complete rethink of demand planning, asset optimisation, and predictive data management. In the past, executives mostly used historical data to gauge and forecast supply and demand. Post Covid-19, there has been huge pressure to leverage real-time data for a proactive approach to supply procurement and management.
Fully automated, real-time inventory tracking, including product receipt, storage, movement and consumption of healthcare products, facilitate quick and accurate identification of demand signals and help companies act on them.
What do we mean by Healthcare Products?
A whole plethora of products, devices, compounds, cosmetics, hygiene products, drugs, natural products, alternative medicines, apparatuses, instruments and equipment are included in the definition of healthcare products. It also encompasses various commodities in the medical, biopharmaceuticals, biosciences, genetics and life sciences fields. Regulated pharmaceuticals and prescription medication of course have their own set of additional challenges.
What are the solutions to inconsistencies in the healthcare products supply chain?
Executives in each link of the supply chain are looking for smarter and more effective ways to collect, analyse, process and manage the vast amount of data and synchronise the deluge of activities they are required to handle in real-time.
Enterprise resource planning (ERP); integrated warehouse management systems (WMS); and Third-party Logistics (3PL) software and technology harness the power of AI (artificial intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) to streamline fulfilment processes and support effective service delivery.
In recent studies, it was found that the majority of executives faced the challenge of inadequate in-house technology, data structures, expertise and software and even strategy to meet the ever-growing demands of the industry.
The good news is that viable and cost-effective solutions are available to get ahead in so many areas of business in ever-changing market conditions.
What are some of the benefits of WMS software?
WMS technology like In-DEX WMS and Empirica WMS offer a tailored warehouse management solution with absolutely ‘no limits’ to any functionality required by small and medium enterprises to multinational businesses. Robust and highly configurable to exacting standard and non-standard customer requirements.
Paper-based and mobile RF-based, Directed voice functionality and RFID-enabled. Rich core functionality with modular options for affordability with business growth in mind: Web front-end, Business Intelligence, Load Bay Management, Integrated Document Imaging and Scanning, Wireless Image Capture and more.