Building unique supply chain optimisation

In the second and final part of the interview, Ravi Prakash Mathur, Senior Director Supply Chain – Head of Logistics, Dr.Reddy’s, talks about some of the specific concerns pharma shippers face when it comes to logistics and lists down some of the supply chain demands of a global pharmaceutical company like Dr.Reddy’s.

As a shipper what are some of your primary concerns with the way in which pharma logistics sector works today?
As a user of the logistics sector we see three primary areas of improvement for the pharma logistics sector.
a) Pharma industry is governed by specific regulations which work towards enhancing the patient safety and well-being. Logistics service providers have been largely offering same solutions across the industry sectors. While some industry sectors are able to leverage the standard solutions & shared facilities, same is not always viable for pharmaceutical companies. Pharma logistics require specific solutions and knowledge of the industry.
b) As a user it is difficult to get a single service provider who can provide end to end integrated logistics solutions at the desired price and service levels for all areas of logistics. This forces the organization to tie-up with multiple service providers for different logistics needs.
c) Although most of the logistics service providers have good technology solutions having real time visibility, users are not able to get an integrated view. Going forward, the logistics technologies that ensure shipment visibility should be able to talk to the planning engines of the manufacturing sector.

As a shipper what are some of your demands to your logistics and supply chain partners?
Given the above concerns, it will help if pharma specific logistics solutions and shared infrastructure are offered, where multiple pharma companies can leverage the same to lower their costs and also get better and customized pharma specific solutions at the same time. There is also a need for logistics industry to provide a consolidated view of end to end logistics status and integration of the same with Dr. Reddy’s enterprise planning and execution systems.

With the pharma industry already being highly regulated to safeguard the integrity of products, how do you see the global best practices taking shape when it comes to the transportation of pharma products and especially with regard to products which are temperature sensitive?
Both from product integrity as well as minimize the wastages across the supply chain, time is now right to have pharma specific solutions and infrastructure getting developed to facilitate the same. Freight consolidation services other sectors easily use which do not lend themselves easily to the pharma sector. Efforts are required to develop cost effective freight solutions for smaller shipment which are also GDP compliant.

How challenging is the task that you have at Dr. Reddy’s of overseeing supply chain to over 100 countries across several products and product categories?
Dr. Reddy’s has now reached the status of a global organization and for the supply chain team it is important to retain the positive aspects which had helped us to grow exponentially over the years and also develop new capabilities to handle the scale and growth.

How much of your investment (annually) goes into supply chain management?
As we have grown exponentially over the years and still have significant untapped potential, Dr. Reddy’s investment into supply chain is governed more by its overall long term business objectives rather than looking at it as a budget to be provided for. Our approach is to invest as needed to realize the business growth objectives. As supply chain is an important corner stone for the organization the foundation needs to be in place for the organization to keep growing.

As a supply chain professional with significant years of experience in the pharma industry what are some of your thoughts and visions to ensure that every dose of medicine produced in the world reaches customers in its full integrity and value?
We at Dr. Reddy’s supply chain believe in the core value of providing affordable and innovative medicines for healthier lives. This belief drives the supply chain organization and its service providers to build the philosophy into the design of all the processes and systems, so that we are geared to work towards it and realize the same.