Handling Network is a magazine devoted to all aspects of the materials handling, storage and distribution industry in Ireland

Latest News

  • CEVA Logistics launches FORPATIENTS healthcare logistics sub-brand, new temperature-sensitive solution
  • Willowton Group switches to inhouse PET bottle production for sunflower oil with Sidel blowers
  • Descartes Report Highlights Impact of Brexit and COVID-19 on Supply Chains
  • IFOY AWARDs 2021: Finalists Successfully Tested
  • ‘Ever Given’ refloated but global e-commerce will flounder amid delays
  • Home
  • News
    • Handling News
    • UK News
    • Euro News
    • Global News
    • Safety News
  • Regular Features
    • Case Studies
    • Handling Life
    • The Graham Archer Column
  • Warehousing Seminar
  • A-Z Directory
  • Videos
  • About us
  • Contact Us
  • follow
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Google+
    • Pinterest
    • RSS Feed
    • Linked
    • Youtube

UK’s SME backbone for biotech supply chains


UK’s SME backbone for biotech supply chains
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

With Covid-19 vaccine delivery highlighting the need for resilience in pharma and biotech supply chains, Karl H. Lauri, managing team member at MRPeasy.com, explains that ERP/MRP gives smaller suppliers the backbone required to take part.

The pandemic has starkly revealed not only the science and research based strengths of the UK’s pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector, but also the vulnerabilities of highly complex, geographically extended and time-critical supply chains. Identifying, controlling and mitigating these weaknesses has become an even greater priority, not just for ‘big pharma’ but for the very many smaller companies that make up the life sciences supply chain ecosystem. An essential foundation is a solid, reliable and useable ERP/MRP backbone.

The story of vaccine development, and indeed of pharmaceuticals generally, is usually told in terms of the major global corporation such as Pfizer and Astra Zeneca. Indeed, 37 of the global ‘top 50’ have operations in the UK, and 89% of employees in the biopharmaceutical sector work for firms with more than 250 employees. But in pharmaceutical products alone there were 645 UK manufacturing companies in 2018; including non-drug biotechnologies nearly 2,000; and across the whole life sciences sector, including not just therapy manufacturers but suppliers of diagnostics, equipment, and support services (for example, ‘fill and finish’), some 6,300 companies according to the BioIndustry Association, some 80% being small businesses.

This SME ecosystem is in constant flux. New start-up companies are formed to exploit the scientific discoveries of the UK’s world leading research institutions. Some of these are acquired by ‘big pharma’, others grow through external investment – UK biotech raised £2.8 billion in capital in 2020. At the same time the major companies constantly spin off companies whose products don’t sit easily in their commercial portfolio. Even within ‘big pharma’, there are often scientific or market constraints on ‘scaling up’ production, so that although units may enjoy ‘corporate’ services in sales, marketing, and securing regulatory approval, from a manufacturing point of view they may operate very much like small companies.

And small-scale production is likely to become even more significant in the future. Developments in ‘advanced therapies’ such as genetic and cell-base treatments suggest a ‘personalisation’ of therapies. In future, ‘batch size’ may be that of an individual patient’s requirement, while the short life and vulnerability of biological – as opposed to chemical – substances drive a requirement for on-demand production as close as possible to the point of use. This is somewhat analogous to the way 3D printing is expected to develop in other manufacturing sectors. Production and supply chain control can only get more complex.

Small firms and start-ups don’t get a free pass from regulatory requirements. Every input, every process and every deviation has to be meticulously logged and tracked. Resource planning has to be precise and highly detailed, not just around the actual manufacturing process but for resources such as cold chain logistics, or consumable and disposable inputs. Many vaccines, for example, are cultured in ‘bioreactors’ which are in essence sophisticated single-use plastic bags – often sourced, along with related tubing and so on, from Far Eastern manufacturers and vulnerable to the problems familiar from PPE procurement. Many chemical precursors, reagents and the like are also sourced from abroad.

Non-production tasks, such as clean down and clearing between batches, and Quality Control have to be planned and scheduled in more detail than is usual. Synchronisation with suppliers, with contract manufacturers, with logistics operators and with clinical end-users has to be glitch-free otherwise, at best, valuable product is scrapped, at worst, patient health is compromised. Security, both physical and cyber, is of increasing concern. And many of the workarounds and comfort points familiar from other industries are not available – often, for example, the nature of the substances means that it is not possible to create buffer stocks of raw material, Work in Progress or finished product.

An ERP/MRP system to underpin this activity is not necessarily over-complex, but it does need to allow the finest granularity over multi-layer Bills of Material, upload and download seamlessly with other systems and with other supply chain partners, record and retain very large amounts of manufacturing data, and perhaps above all, produce reports that give clear and early warning of problems and deviations. The system also needs to be simple and intuitive in operation – users in small biotech companies are likely to be trained scientists, not production managers.

There is a lot of work being done currently on creating common standards and control methods around the emerging sciences such as genomics and cell-based therapies, but whatever form these take, there will still be a need for a Resource Planning ‘backbone’. In 2017, the Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership produced a ‘Manufacturing Vision for UK Pharma’ outlining the need to create flexible production facilities and adaptive supply chain handling, logistics and preservation technologies, and listing the key needs and drivers. These include:

  • Robust and effective control of end-to-end supply from raw materials to finished goods, with measurements to support this;
  • Secure tracking – building on the control need, a capability to identify patient personalised product, especially with advanced therapies;
  • Development of a complex, cost effective and robust supply chain – including frozen, and class-leading preservation technologies
  • Close tracking history of products/components: know where it is and what environmental conditions it has been in;
  • Increased integrated automation of systems where, currently, much is manual yet early demand signals are key
  • Smarter use of digital platforms to reduce expensive inventory and risk of stock outs.

That is not a bad description of the core functions of and MRP/ERP system. Helpfully, these issues are by no means unique to biotechnology and the report itself recommends learning from other ‘personalised’ supply chains, even including automotive – ‘Do not re-invent the wheel’, they say.


  • tweet
SmartFreight Shipping Solutions can help businesses take stock in a changing world Racksack from Beaverswood improves the collection and segregation of waste

Related articles
  • CEVA Logistics launches FORPATIENTS healthcare logistics sub-brand, new temperature-sensitive solution
    CEVA Logistics launches FORPATIENTS...

    Comments Off on CEVA Logistics launches FORPATIENTS healthcare logistics sub-brand, new temperature-sensitive solution

  • Willowton Group switches to inhouse PET bottle production for sunflower oil with Sidel blowers
    Willowton Group switches to inhouse PET...

    Comments Off on Willowton Group switches to inhouse PET bottle production for sunflower oil with Sidel blowers

  • Descartes Report Highlights Impact of Brexit and COVID-19 on Supply Chains
    Descartes Report Highlights Impact of...

    Comments Off on Descartes Report Highlights Impact of Brexit and COVID-19 on Supply Chains

  • IFOY AWARDs 2021: Finalists Successfully Tested
    IFOY AWARDs 2021: Finalists...

    Comments Off on IFOY AWARDs 2021: Finalists Successfully Tested

More in this category
  • CEVA Logistics launches FORPATIENTS healthcare logistics sub-brand, new temperature-sensitive solution
    CEVA Logistics launches FORPATIENTS...

    Comments Off on CEVA Logistics launches FORPATIENTS healthcare logistics sub-brand, new temperature-sensitive solution

  • Willowton Group switches to inhouse PET bottle production for sunflower oil with Sidel blowers
    Willowton Group switches to inhouse PET...

    Comments Off on Willowton Group switches to inhouse PET bottle production for sunflower oil with Sidel blowers

  • Descartes Report Highlights Impact of Brexit and COVID-19 on Supply Chains
    Descartes Report Highlights Impact of...

    Comments Off on Descartes Report Highlights Impact of Brexit and COVID-19 on Supply Chains

  • ‘Ever Given’ refloated but global e-commerce will flounder amid delays
    ‘Ever Given’ refloated but...

    Comments Off on ‘Ever Given’ refloated but global e-commerce will flounder amid delays


Read now: Summer 2020

Tweets by @HandlingNetwork

IFOY Website

Logistics

CEVA Logistics launches FORPATIENTS healthcare logistics sub-brand, new temperature-sensitive solution

CEVA Logistics launches FORPATIENTS healthcare logistics sub-brand,...

FORPATIENTS sub-brand confirms CEVA Logistics’ patient-centric focus for healthcare logistics solutions, including for COVID-19 vaccines Investments in end-to-end supply chain capabilities,...
Read More
‘Ever Given’ refloated but global e-commerce will flounder amid delays

‘Ever Given’ refloated but global...

Grocery retailers need to maintain sustainability focus despite pandemic

Grocery retailers need to maintain sustainability...

CHEP announces new contract with leading sustainable brand, The Cheeky Panda

CHEP announces new contract with leading...

Gebrüder Weiss moves into new logistics center near Graz, Austria

Gebrüder Weiss moves into new logistics center...

Handling

Michelin offering expert tyre fitting & maintenance training for operators of plant, construction, industrial and heavy-duty machinery

Michelin offering expert tyre fitting & maintenance training for...

Tyre manufacturer Michelin has announced it is offering expert tyre fitting and maintenance training for operators of plant, construction, industrial and heavy-duty machinery via two new one-day courses, available to customers in Ireland and the UK. Delivered at the customer’s site by experts...
Read More
B&B Attachments provides handling solutions to S and B EPS

B&B Attachments provides handling solutions...

Euro News

  • ELOKON launches series of webinars
    ELOKON launches series of webinars

    The ELOKON Group, a leading international supplier of...
  • Gebrüder Weiss moves into new logistics center near Graz, Austria
    Gebrüder Weiss moves into new logistics center near Graz,...

    Logistics company invests 28 million euros in modern...

Global

  • CEVA Logistics launches FORPATIENTS healthcare logistics sub-brand, new temperature-sensitive solution
    CEVA Logistics launches FORPATIENTS healthcare logistics...

    FORPATIENTS sub-brand confirms CEVA Logistics’...
  • Descartes Report Highlights Impact of Brexit and COVID-19 on Supply Chains
    Descartes Report Highlights Impact of Brexit and COVID-19...

    Early Preparation Remains Key to Avoid Expensive...

UK News

  • Toy story – Hornby Hobbies – the logistics behind the delivery
    Toy story – Hornby Hobbies – the logistics...

    Constraints to business expansion, presented by manual...
  • Amazon is Go! Internet giant launches its first till-free UK store
    Amazon is Go! Internet giant launches its first till-free...

    The opening of the first Amazon Go cashierless grocery...

Safety News

  • Michelin offering expert tyre fitting & maintenance training for operators of plant, construction, industrial and heavy-duty machinery
    Michelin offering expert tyre fitting & maintenance...

    Tyre manufacturer Michelin has announced it is offering...
  • How Workplace Safety Promotes Efficiency; Advice from ProGlove
    How Workplace Safety Promotes Efficiency; Advice from...

    By Axel Schmidt, Senior Communications Manager, ProGlove...
Copyright 2019 Handling Networks Ireland / All rights reserved