Delivering Modern Pharmaceutical Supply Chains

Part Three: When Stock Leaves The Warehouse

Managing sales and delivering products are critical to the success of the supply chains utilised by wholesalers, distributors, and other businesses in the pharmaceutical, medical device, and healthcare sectors. Getting these processes right will help a business to strengthen its relationships, enhance its reputation, and boosts its revenues and profits as well as meeting its regulatory obligations. Modern supply chain management (SCM) systems support these objectives with core features that help the business to manage its customer facing operations and streamline the flow of orders from the warehouse or distribution centre to their final destination. They can also offer enhancements that meet the unique needs of these specialist sectors. These can include, for example, ensuring the detailed product identification that is essential for rigorous regulatory compliance, anti-counterfeiting measures, product traceability, and verifiable provenance.

In this final article in our series, we look at how SCM systems such as ProSCM Advanced Supply Chain Management Software manage the preparation and delivery of orders.

 

• Sales Order Capture

Efficient and robust sales systems rely on providing pharmacies and other customers with precise visibility of stock and predictable and accurate delivery schedules. ProSCM integrates with a wide range of sales and order processing applications to provide real-time stock visibility with near instantaneous response times. In this way the pharmacy can see immediately if a product is in stock or not. The system can also provide information on items that are out of stock, cannot be supplied by a specific manufacturer, or are subject to some other restriction, and offer alternative products or suppliers.

 

• Comprehensive Telesales Functionality

Although many customers place regular orders for a variety of the products there is always potential for suppliers to increase their sales. SCM systems can integrate with customer relationship management (CRM) tools to provide a seamless flow of information between sales teams and supply chain operations. ProSCM, for example, incorporates comprehensive telesales functionality which helps suppliers to liaise more effectively with their customers. This might include, for example, prompting a call if a customer places an unusual order (to check they are ordering correctly) or when additional or alternative products are on promotion. This type of integration ensures that sales teams have up-to-date information on product availability, delivery times, and order status, which enhances customer service and satisfaction.

 

“ProSCM, for example, incorporates comprehensive telesales functionality
which helps suppliers to liaise more effectively with their customers.”

• Selling Restrictions

Many pharmaceutical and related products are covered by regulations that restrict their supply. There are also business reasons why a supplier may want to prevent certain customers from requesting specific products. In both cases, the rules-based functionality of ProSCM allows suppliers to set a wide range of parameters that the system can use to ensure that products are not supplied to unauthorised customers. These selling restrictions can be set at any level including customer, customer group or outlet (such as pharmacist, doctor, hospital etc). They can also include consignee, product, or product group level which means that suppliers can implement system-direct selling with complete and automatic control over who can and cannot order products. This helps to ensure regulatory compliance and can simplify use of the system which in turn reduces training burdens.

 

• API for Taking in Sales Orders Direct from Pharmacy Systems

One of the key reasons for implementing applications such as ProSCM is to create highly efficient and integrated business systems that reduce the need for manual intervention while supporting higher levels of automation. ProSCM includes a number of tools that allow information to be exchanged with other applications in a range of widely used and industry standard formats including ASCII, XML, and JSON. For optimum automation and integration capability the system has a set of APIs that enable simple and rapid interconnectivity with other applications.

 

• Orders, Deliveries, Returns

When it comes to deliveries and returns, SCM systems are indispensable. They optimise logistics by selecting the most efficient routes and carriers, which ensures timely and cost-effective delivery of products to customers. SCM systems also provide end-to-end visibility of the delivery process, allowing businesses to track shipments in real-time and proactively address any issues that may arise. This level of transparency not only improves operational efficiency but also builds trust with customers by keeping them informed about the status of their orders.

 

“When it comes to deliveries and returns, SCM systems are indispensable.

They optimise logistics by selecting the most efficient routes and carriers,
which ensures timely and cost-effective delivery of products to customers.”

 

SCM systems manage returns (also known as reverse logistics) efficiently by streamlining the process of receiving, inspecting, and restocking returned products. This capability is essential for maintaining customer satisfaction, as it ensures that returns are handled quickly and refunds or replacements are processed without delay. Moreover, analysing return data can provide valuable insights into product quality and customer preferences, helping businesses to make informed decisions about product improvements and inventory management.

 

• Stock Control Feedback

Accessing historic, current, and predicted sales volume data can help the business to optimise its stock levels. SCM applications can help with a wide range of analytical and reporting tools that not only provide insights into sales and other supply chain patterns but can also help to automate many of the related processes. For example, as we saw in a previous article, ProSCM can automate order processing and ensure that replenishment stock is scheduled for inbound delivery to the warehouse. This saves time and effort and reduces the risk of under and over stocking. In doing so, businesses can reduce costs associated with excess inventory and avoid lost sales due to stockouts. Sales teams can focus on building customer relationships and closing deals.

 

“ProSCM can automate order processing and ensure that replenishment
stock is scheduled for inbound delivery to the warehouse. This saves
time and effort and reduces the risk of under and over stocking.”

 

• Building the Business

Building relationships with supply chain partners is another critical aspect where SCM systems excel. By fostering collaboration and communication with suppliers, manufacturers, and logistics providers, SCM systems create a cohesive network that works towards common goals. This collaboration is facilitated through shared data platforms that provide real-time information on inventory levels, production schedules, and delivery timelines. Such transparency helps in aligning the efforts of all partners, reducing delays, and improving overall supply chain performance.

 

Furthermore, SCM systems support aftersales processes by ensuring that all partners involved in deliveries and fulfilment are well-coordinated. This coordination is achieved through automated workflows and communication tools that keep all parties informed about their roles and responsibilities, often in real-time. By maintaining strong relationships with supply chain partners, businesses can ensure that their customers receive consistent and reliable service, which is crucial for building long-term customer loyalty.

 

• Product Traceability and Regulatory Compliance

To maintain regulatory compliance and business continuity, businesses in the pharmaceutical and related sectors need to maintain strict and detailed records of stock passing through the warehouse and beyond. This includes, for example, tracking stock by manufacturer, consignment, batch, or serial number, at the required level of detail from pallet to case to individual pack, depending on regulatory and/or user requirements. The objective is to provide a complete, detailed, and unbroken real-time audit of the stock across the organisation.

 

ProSCM incorporates a number of features to manage data integrity. Using the system’s rules-based processes allows users to configure these functions flexibly, for example by supplier, supplier group, quality group, site/facility, product, and even specific ingredients. Although these features are all highly useful for daily operations, maintaining the integrity of data and related stock is also vital in the fight against counterfeit or fake medicines.

 

The ideal Supply Chain Management solution

ProSCM Advanced Supply Chain Management Software from Principal Logistics Technologies (an Aptean company) is specifically designed for distributors, wholesalers, and parallel importers operating in strictly controlled environments in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices and healthcare. It enforces strict adherence to complex business processes that require full auditability and traceability. Users enjoy rich core functionality that can be enhanced with modular options to support and enable affordable and scalable business growth. ProSCM is ideal for businesses faced with intricate purchasing and sales, stock handling and storage rules, and stringent compliance requirements. It can operate standalone or interface to any existing or planned accounting application.

 

Click here to read parts 1 and 2 in this series (Sourcing and Purchasing and When Stock Has Arrived). and read some of our customer case studies here.