Supply Chain Visibility In Healthcare — Beyond The Dashboard

by: Richard Beeny, CEO, LifeScience Logistics

The "Darwinian Model" is alive and well. Significant risks and opportunities are driving businesses to shed the inefficiencies of the past or go the way of the dinosaur. This is especially true in Healthcare. Given the personal and professional impact of timely, cost efficient and most importantly effective treatments, today's global healthcare industry faces enormous challenges and opportunities. Effectively trying to manage both ends of that spectrum is forcing executives out of the boardroom and into the supply chain. Here's a look at what we're facing.

Change is constant in the supply chain
Major evolutions in distribution and manufacturing in the 21st century have changed the dynamics of doing business in North America and across the globe. Growth in imports has soared in the last few years fuelled by the Asian domination of the manufacturing sector. This is especially true in North America where manufacturers have become importers and distributors with a new focus on efficiency and improved customer service.

Furthermore, with the shift in power due to margin compression, regulatory pressures and competing demand for capital in healthcare, many provider networks have taken their supply chains into their own hands while manufacturers have opted to focus on their core competencies; research and development, sales/marketing and customer services, delegating supply chain operations to outsourced experts. These movements in the landscape are at the heart of the changing economy and more so in healthcare where the management of a secure supply of healthcare products is vital for the well being of patients.

The supply chain – a network of resources
The supply chain is no longer a controlled entity within the four walls of a warehouse. Today, it is a network of resources, scattered across facilities and entities in different cities and countries. To be effectively managed, supply chain resources need to be linked. Suppliers, partners and customers; each performing a role in the supply chain, and each user and/or automated process are small "hubs" contributing to the movement of goods, funds as well as information in the supply chain.