How Sandoz Cut Its Supplier Network By 34%: A Step-By-Step Consolidation Playbook

Starting with roughly 500 finished dose form (FDF) suppliers and a fragmented network where commercial and technical operations weren't talking to each other, Sandoz cut network complexity by 34% against its 2023 baseline in under two years. Maik Talarczyk, Head of PMO External Supplier Operations, presented the full program at CDMO Live Europe 2026, and the architecture he described is worth understanding carefully.

The first phase was diagnostic: building end-to-end visibility across criticality, risk, spend, complexity, performance, licensing, and country coverage. That foundation made it possible to rationalize at the product-family level rather than supplier by supplier. By end of 2024, the first cycle had reduced complexity by 21%. The 2025 acceleration phase introduced two formal tools, a six-step make-vs-buy assessment and a three-phase consolidation approach, giving procurement and technical teams a shared framework for reaching decisions that were both commercially and contractually sound. A second cycle added another 13 percentage points.

The honest lesson here: the data infrastructure came first, and the decision frameworks came second. You can't consolidate what you can't see. Access the full analysis to map this approach against your own supplier network.