Rod Schregardus, supply chain technology specialist at Access Group, discusses the role of advanced planning and scheduling (APS) systems in pharmaceuticals manufacturing.
Productivity
Digitalisation has transformed pharmaceuticals manufacturing in recent years, helping to get drugs to market quicker, demonstrate compliance and traceability and protect margins. Pressure to reduce drug prices, and competition from the Far East, has only underlined the importance of lean production, prompting many to review and, in some cases, overhaul their existing processes.
It is perhaps difficult to believe that, in a tech-driven industry like pharma, some manufacturers still rely on basic planning software and spreadsheets. Clearly limited in scope and functionality, these tools rarely provide the visibility required to avoid problems like bottlenecks in a bioreactor, conflict due to shared equipment and the under-utilisation of resources.