{{item.videoDuration}}
{{item.title}}
{{item.text}}
{{item.videoDuration}}
{{item.title}}
{{item.text}}
Times have certainly changed for the heads of supply chain and operations at life sciences manufacturers.
In the past one of their main responsibilities was to plan, produce and stage finished goods across their distribution networks to achieve near 100% order fulfillment performance. The quantities they managed were usually sufficient to cover six to twelve months’ worth of demand in order to meet patient needs and keep order fulfillment rates high. Failures to attain 100% order fulfillment were usually caused by unanticipated demand for specific SKUs or a significant supply issue. Supply chain and operations leaders didn’t need sophisticated technologies and applications to plan for this type of “push inventory to the network” strategy.
However, today supply chains are more complex. Specialty pharmaceuticals and combination devices shipped direct to patients require cold chain distribution through the last mile. Orthopedic implants managed the operating room, and cell and gene therapies administered in coordination with hospitals and clinics, require faster cycle times and specialty distribution coordinated with third party logistics providers. Increasingly complex manufacturing processes require more sophisticated supply chain scenario planning capabilities. With the growth and diversification of global product portfolios, it is increasingly difficult for manufacturers to confirm that only the approved product variant is shipped to the right market jurisdiction.
With the increased supply chain complexity and ever-challenging global healthcare environment, today’s life sciences supply chain and operations leaders require much more advanced applications, analytics and reporting capabilities to get the job done. Planners need rapid supply chain scenario planning capabilities when demand shifts, supply is constrained, or network strategy evolves. Finance controllers need seamless integration between the shop floor and finance to control product costs. Quality controllers need better visibility to batch status to prioritize testing and manage batch release. Distribution leaders need rapid access to market authorizations and item masters to make sure they ship the approved SKU to the right jurisdiction. If each supply chain and operations function had its own application, technical and integration complexity would hamstring their ability to conduct business.
For many years, life sciences companies have relied on SAP to run their businesses and fuel their supply chains. With S/4HANA and related cloud applications, SAP has continued to provide life sciences supply chain leaders with powerful new functionality. As Life Sciences companies look ahead to implementing SAP S/4HANA, there are a number of new features and functionalities that will help supply chain and operations leaders address current challenges and provide a platform for future supply chain transformation.
Opportunities for the supply chain with SAP S/4HANA
There are numerous advantages that SAP S/4HANA and related cloud applications provide the life sciences supply chain and operations functions. Many of the new functional capabilities are already designed and documented in our Industry Edge for Life Sciences solution (see below for more details). However, here are some of the advantages that SAP S/4HANA and related cloud applications provide life sciences supply chain and operations leaders:
- Integrated procurement contract and spend management for compliant and profitable management of the direct supply base
- Batch release management to provide visibility to batch/inventory status and compliantly manage inventory on a first-expired-first-out (FEFO) basis
- Advanced available-to-promise functionality to rapidly assess feasibility of order fulfillment and make rapid decisions on inventory allocations or movements
- Integrated commercial contracting, pricing, usage reporting and rebating to enable outcomes-based contracting and pricing capabilities
- Advanced track and trace capabilities to not only generate serial numbers but also manage data exchange with trading partners and respond to product inquiries from customers
- Integrated clinical trial supply management capabilities to consolidate trial and protocol management with clinical supply management and data exchange with clinical research organizations and third-party distributors
Delivering bottom-line benefits with SAP S/4HANA
With PwC as their collaborator, many life sciences companies have realized significant benefits following implementation of SAP S/4HANA and related applications. Below are real-world examples of how our supply chain and operations clients have delivered tangible benefits to their business:
- Increased % spend on contract and overall reduced spend for direct materials
- Faster and more accurate supply chain planning and available-to-promise fulfillment decisions leading to improved order fulfillment capabilities
- Improved integration between planning and execution activities leading to decreased lead times and improved inventory turns
- Visibility across shop floor activities, quality management and finance leading to improvements to product costs and inventory turns
- Batch release management capabilities creating better visibility to batch and inventory status, faster quality review cycle times and more compliant inventory control
- Integration between detailed scheduling and asset management leading to decreased maintenance costs and improved asset utilization
- Visibility to shipping status and conditions across the distribution network leading to decreased product loss and logistics costs
- Integrated commercial contracting, pricing and rebating leading to increased product profitability
Industry Edge for Life Sciences
Simply put, Industry Edge for Life Sciences is our SAP S/4HANA instance that has been tailored with Life Sciences specific functionality. This instance allows PwC to more quickly demonstrate to clients the features, functionality, and advantages of SAP S/4HANA for a wide range of functions. Our Industry Edge is a unique combination of SAP, industry leading business practices, and cloud technology insights designed to engineer a data, process, and insights thread across your clinical, operations, finance, and commercial functions. Our Industry Edge for Life Sciences includes:
- Standard taxonomy aligned to SAP S/4HANA
- Business process flows and descriptions – down to a Level 3 business process decomposition – built on Signavio
- Predefined data model for Life Sciences to enable visualization of transactional business processes
- Foundational and core processes which can be adopted without change to speed implementation
- A “plug-and-play”/Day One demo approach with context-sensitive deliverables to readily enable visualization of future functionality
- Test scripts covering business scenarios critical for life sciences companies
Let’s get started, together!
Whether your company is considering a technical migration to SAP S/4HANA, or you’re a supply chain executive looking to improve your organization’s capabilities, now is the time to fully understand your future opportunities. PwC is prepared to help you define your future supply chain goals, align those goals to your company’s SAP S/4HANA program, and deliver bottom-line benefits to your company. Contact our SAP Life Sciences team so we can get started, together, today!
Unlock the supply chain capabilities that can move your business forward
{{filterContent.facetedTitle}}
{{contentList.loadingText}}
{{contentList.loadingText}}
Follow us
