The Indian pharmaceutical industry is 3rd largest in the world in terms of volume

accounting for 10 percent of worlds production and stands 14th in terms of value.
Indian Pharma industry with more than 20,000 registered units is highly fragmented
with severe price competition and government price control. There are
approximately 250 large units and more than 8,000 small scale units, which form the
core of the Pharmaceutical industry in India.

The success of a global pharmaceutical company can to a large part be attributed
to its successful supply chain. The supply chain ensures drug availability at all
locations across continents, 100 percent product availability at optimum cost by
carrying a huge inventory, which maintains 100 percent fill rate.

In this environment, it is no surprise that companies
throughout the industry are hungry for opportunities to improve the efficiency of
their operations, better understand their customers demands, and devise more
creative responses to the marketplaces challenges.

The criticality of a seamless supply chain network is often underestimated in the
industry. A recent study has quoted that pharmaceutical companies are trying to cut
down product development time to save costs. For example, a drug manufacturer
who can trim development time by 19 percent can save up to US$ 100 million.
However, a delay in time to market of a drug can cost a company around US$ 1
million a day. So, pharmaceutical companies today are designing the supply chain to
be as responsive as possible to reduce entry time to the market thereby increasing
profit margins.
The Pharma Supply Chain is highly sensitive where anything less than 100 percent
customer service level is unacceptable as it directly impacts patient health and
safety.

The solution that many Pharmaceutical industries adopt is to maintain a large
inventory in the supply chain to ensure close to 100 percent fill rate. However, it is
a challenge to ensure 100 percent product availability at an optimal cost across
multiple locations, unless supply chain processes are streamlined towards customer
needs and demands.


technologies adopted by Pharmaceutical companies in India to
track and trace product movement and to check counterfeiting across the supply
chain.
Analytical tools and data-based decision tools such as Enterprise Resource Planning
(ERP) have been implemented by many Pharma companies to fine tune traditional
forecasting and replenishment strategies

This analytically driven nimbleness has
allowed leading manufacturers to increase their speed-to-market while improving
their management of working capital critical capabilities in a world where
product lifespans are shrinking year after year.
Implementing ERP typically requires changing existing business processes. Poor
understanding of needed process changes prior to starting implementation is the
main reason for project failure. It is therefore crucial that organizations thoroughly
analyze business processes before implementation