Many Life Sciences companies are not benefiting from innovative supply chains and technologies. Managing and rationalizing the supply chain from a cost and quality perspective is not a key priority for business executives. For high margin products the focus is often on de-risking the supply chain. Moreover, when executives are experiencing the (initial) benefits of high margin products, they do not have a strong incentive to apply innovative supply chains and technologies to improve the competitiveness of their business and better serve each customer segment.

Nowadays, Life Sciences companies are forced to establish more competitive and tailored supply chains due to i.e. patent expiries, decreasing healthcare budgets from (national) governments, different requirements in the various segments, and increasing market competition.

Survey in Life Sciences in collaboration with BME

During the 4th BME Global Pharma Supply Chain Congress in 2019, BCI Global facilitated and moderated sessions on innovative Life Sciences supply chain models, global End-to-End supply chain management, technology and compliance & regulations. BME is a Peer-to-Peer event for supply chain executives in pharma, MedTech and global healthcare.

BCI Global conducted an online survey among these executives. Distribution models, business and supply chain challenges, network design, S&OP and technologies like AI, Blockchain, 3D printing and Robotics were touched upon in the survey.

The survey report draws a parallel between this year’s and last year’s survey results, and suggests areas for improvement through examples which were based on the experience of BCI’s supply chain practice.

Key priorities of supply chain executives

Executives were asked about their priorities for the next 12 months out. The optimization of supply chain cost and service, End-to-End visibility and facilitating revenue growth through supply chain were on top of the list.

Integrated business planning was mentioned as a key instrument to realize improvements. Moreover, new and disruptive technologies like AI, machine learning, robotics and 3D printing will facilitate an improvement of the supply chain function. An increasing number of healthcare executives plan or started to investigate these new trends and possibilities, which puts them amongst the frontrunners in the industry. The time is now to invest effort in innovative supply chain models and technologies to support business objectives. Companies that decide to wait are losing valuable time and are endangering their competitive position in this disruptive environment.

Interested in the survey results? File your download request here.

For more information contact Wesley Haaksma, Senior Consultant at BCI Global via wesley.haaksma@bciglobal.com or call +31 24 3790222.

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