Building Supply Chain Resiliency in a Modern World From Research through Production
By Christina P. Hooton
In recent years, global supply chains have been tested by events like the pandemic, natural disasters, and trade issues. As a result, supply chain resiliency has emerged as a critical factor for the success and sustainability of businesses across industries. Organizations that can quickly adapt to evolving requirements and recover from unforeseen events will be better able to maintain uninterrupted operations and customer satisfaction in the face of disruptions.
The Evolving Landscape for Regulated Industries
Regulated industries like biopharma, semiconductor, food, and agriculture, which face strict quality control requirements, stand to benefit significantly from proactively identifying and managing risks to uphold these standards and not slow down or stop the production of essential resources and life-saving therapies.
According to a November 2023 White House Issue Brief on supply chain resilience, the semiconductor and pharmaceutical industries are more sensitive to disruptions because of an issue called supply chain concentration. This happens when there is an overreliance on a limited number of suppliers or a geographic concentration of suppliers. For example, according to a 2022 Department of Defense report titled “Securing Defense-Critical Supply Chains,” 88 percent of semiconductor production happens overseas. To help enhance the sourcing of raw materials, legislation like the CHIPS & Science Act was introduced by the Biden-Harris Administration to spur private-sector investment in domestic manufacturing and its raw material inputs.
As the production of essential goods is moving closer to home, reporting requirements are increasing for pharmaceutical manufacturers. According to the Contract Pharma article “The Road Ahead for CDMOs in 2024,” the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is now requiring facilities producing active pharmaceutical ingredients and finished dosing forms to report their annual output. The article describes this as another method for preventing drug shortages and better predicting these occurrences in the future.
"The Fisher Scientific channel is an extension of our customer’s supply chain, and we are here to partner to support their requirements and challenges." - Jillian Otto, Vice President and General Manager, Production Products and Services, North America and Emerging Markets, Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Helping You Secure and Strengthen Your Supply Chain
In addition to these evolving regulations, manufacturers are faced with challenges like compliance, quality control, risk management, supply chain visibility, supplier qualification and management, and cost optimization. The good news is that businesses can find innovative ways to optimize their supply chain without compromising regulatory requirements. The Fisher Scientific channel can support you with a number of production-centric capabilities to help you streamline your operation, including:
Unrivaled product choices:
By offering a wide range of options for customers seeking second sourcing across their laboratory, cleanroom, and bioprocessing applications, we can help mitigate risk and ensure business continuity.
“We’re able to provide real-time visibility to our customers as they browse our website. We aggregate the needs of all our customers and their requirements for advanced planning and reporting,” explained Jeff Ferricks, director of Supply Chain Planning for Thermo Fisher Scientific.
“Because of our choice and convenience, we’re able to give customers multiple sources for products without making them go through multiple vendors so they can ensure the availability of essential inputs,” added Svitlana Malik, vice president of Supply Chain Planning for Thermo Fisher Scientific. “And we have professionals who understand customers' requirements and can help them transition seamlessly to alternative sources.”
Regional availability:
Our extensive warehouse network helps us prevent supply chain disruptions by offering regional proximity, safety stock management, redundancy options, scalability, continuity planning, and technology integration. When inclement weather hits, we’re able to divert customer orders to nearby facilities so we can provide an uninterrupted supply to our customers.
This also results in faster turnaround times. “In North America, our distribution locations are strategically located to deliver efficient next-day ground service to nearly all customers through the Fisher Scientific Edge program,” Ferricks explained. “While there are some exceptions, most orders placed by 2 p.m. are delivered the next day.”
Enhanced traceability and planning:
With our SureTRACE program, we’re able to provide assurance of traceability through automated quality certificates and change notifications. This program also involves enhanced levels of supplier quality management, allowing you to ensure product authenticity, mitigate risks, and protect your brand reputation.
The next level of this offering is our SureTRACE+ program, which provides customized solutions, including enhanced levels of inventory planning, safety stocking, and customer service.
“We’re able to work directly with customers to create critical product lists and specific requirements for those items as well as direct shipment requirements,” said Ferricks. “And, once they’ve gone through the work of validating a batch of products, we can hold that lot for them over a period of time, so they can save costs from not repeating that process.”
All of these capabilities combined can contribute to making your supply chain more nimble and adaptable.
“The Fisher Scientific channel is an extension of our customer’s supply chain, and we are here to partner to support their requirements and challenges,” explained Jillian Otto, vice president and general manager of Production Products and Services, North America and Emerging Markets for Thermo Fisher Scientific. “We do this through our extensive distribution network and our talented team across supplier management, supply chain purchasing and planning, customer service, sales, and quality functions, working closely with our customers to understand pain points and provide solutions that enhance supply chain security, mitigate risks, and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.”
In today’s dynamic business environment, it’s a strategic imperative for critical industries to develop the ability to withstand disruptions and maintain continuity. It not only safeguards operations but also strengthens customer relationships, helping ensure your competitive advantage now and into the future.
Christina P. Hooton is a Thermo Fisher Scientific staff writer.
