Amid pharmaceutical supply chain digitisation discussion, buzzwords appear in plenty – Industry 4.0, Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Having a well-oiled digital supply chain provides businesses with many financial and operational benefits. A pharmaceutical company with a digitised supply chain is more adept at moving inventory, assets, resources, and personnel in a just-in-time fashion while optimising resource planning and allocation.
Along those lines, let’s dive into the key trends and technologies powering the digital supply chains of the pharma industry.
Automation
Automation is revolutionising almost every industry, and the pharma sector is also leveraging its benefits to enable real-time monitoring and improve commercial production. In fact, the pharmaceutical automation market is expected to reach $18.2 billion by 2029.
In essence, automation bridges the gap between employees, business operations, and equipment to keep the pharmaceutical business agile and efficient. It improves the manufacturing process’s overall productivity by reducing manual and repetitive work.
With automation tools, pharmaceutical companies can improve energy, and raw materials use while ensuring regulatory compliance, promoting safety and quality, and improving the supply chain.
Big Data
In 2013, a study by the McKinsey Global Institute documented that big data strategies in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry could yield a value of over $100 billion annually. Considering the capabilities that can be unlocked from the efficient use of data, this estimation seems quite reasonable and, in fact, likely low.
As for pharma, big data has proven invaluable in making the drug discovery process more efficient, improving inventory management and supply chain visibility, identifying and tracking counterfeit drugs, aiding in the therapeutic development of new medications, optimising drug releases, etc.
It’s noteworthy that the pharma supply chain is quite different from other industries, as it’s heavily regulated and comprises multiple functions from various parties. For instance, a drug could be temperature-sensitive, requiring specialised shipping and storage practices, unlike most consumer goods.
Here, big data-powered predictive modelling can be used to analyse the interactions, toxicity, and inhibition of the drug.
RFID
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology is used as a track-and-trace application in the pharma industry. It plays a crucial role in pharma product distribution, increasing traceability, detecting counterfeit drugs, and simplifying inventory management and product flow within warehouses.
With the increasing focus on the identification of products before their collection, storage, and delivery, RFID remains a critical component in the pharma industry.
Internet of Things (IoT)
IoT ensures end-to-end tracking and monitoring at every stage of the supply chain. It enables untethered track-and-trace capabilities and gathers information on conditions, specifications, regulations, and other aspects.
As such, IoT finds itself contributing to manufacturing, warehousing, packaging, and shipment. It helps in multiple facets like monitoring unit operations, gathering real-time data, improving visibility, providing alerts, etc., thus, leading to operational efficiencies.
AI and Computer Vision
The global AI market for the pharmaceutical industry is expected to reach $3626.24 million by 2026. Today, machine learning (ML) algorithms are being used for the drug discovery process, AI tools are improving the success rates of new drugs, and Electronic Medical Records are being utilised for real-time diagnosis predictions.
What’s noteworthy is that AI can potentially be used in every aspect of the pharma industry — design optimisation, creating affordable therapies and drugs, quality checks, accelerating the production of life-saving drugs, reducing pharmaceutical waste and business operational costs, etc.
In addition, computer vision can be leveraged to derive meaningful information from visual media to improve drug traceability, quality control, packaging, and shipment tracking.
Blockchain
Blockchain is taking the pharma industry by storm and receiving praise for its dynamic nature. Most pharmaceutical companies are exploring blockchain to solve their major business challenges, including data disparity, supply chain disruption, and productivity.
In a nutshell, blockchain provides a digital ledger system, allowing easy and transparent access to records and log transactions. So, all the stakeholders in the process, i.e., suppliers, producers, distributors, shippers, retailers, etc., can securely and cohesively work to execute contracts, achieve traceability, and manage compliance.
No doubt then that the pharma companies are using blockchain to implement a unified, secure, transparent, and efficient supply chain management system to govern their complex supply chain across the globe.
Leverage the Right Technology for Your Pharmaceutical Business
The last two years have catalysed a rapid change across the world. Every industry is looking forward to major structural transformation in the post-pandemic era.
Similarly, the pharmaceutical industry also needs to reinvent its ways to complement the digital landscape. With rich technologies, pharmaceutical companies can realise a state-of-the-art digital supply chain and unleash the power of digital transformation.
QodeNext assists pharma businesses in leveraging cutting-edge technologies for interminable growth. Contact us for a free consultation today.
