Hidden Benefits of Clinical Forecasting & Supply Planning Solutions

Forecasting and planning in the pharmaceutical industry involve predicting future demand for drugs, planning production schedules, managing inventory, and ensuring timely distribution. This process is crucial for balancing supply with demand, minimizing waste, and ensuring patient needs are met without delays.  

Risks of fragmented data sources in clinical supply chain forecasting and planning 

Many pharmaceutical companies today rely on spreadsheets not just for forecasting demand and planning production but also for the entire supply chain including tracking inventory levels, scheduling batches, coordinating suppliers, maintaining quality control, ensuring regulatory compliance, and managing costs. However, this approach presents significant challenges, such as data integrity issues, scalability limitations, lack of real-time updates, collaboration difficulties, and security concerns.  

These challenges often lead to errors, inefficiencies, and increased risks such as:  

• Lack of Visibility: Without real-time visibility into inventory levels and demand forecasts, stockouts or overstocking are common. 
  
  
• Inefficient Processes: Manual processes and legacy systems are prone to errors and inefficiencies, increasing the risk of costly delays and wastage.
  
  
• Poor Scalability: Spreadsheets and outdated systems struggle to scale with growing and complex clinical trials, hindering your ability to manage larger, more diverse portfolios.
  
  
• Data Silos: Teams working in isolation with fragmented data sources lead to poor coordination, miscommunication, and increased operational risk.

Transitioning to cloud-based supply chain management solutions addresses these issues by providing enhanced data integrity, scalability, real-time collaboration, improved security, and advanced analytics. This shift enables pharmaceutical companies to streamline operations, improve decision-making, and optimize resources, ultimately leading to more efficient and secure production management. 

Hidden Benefits of Forecasting and Planning Software 

A Defined and Routine Process 

Transitioning from spreadsheet-based forecasting to a dedicated solution like SmartSignals Supplies fosters a standardized, efficient approach. Even the largest pharmaceutical companies and CMOs often lack a cohesive process, relying on generic templates or legacy systems. This piecemeal approach can result in inefficiencies and risks, especially if key team members are unexpectedly absent. 

With SmartSignals Supplies, you benefit from: 

• Consolidated Approach: All users operate within the same system, ensuring consistency. 

• Managerial Visibility: Real-time data for day-to-day oversight and reporting. 

• Elimination of Manual Data Piecing: Instant access to global data without manual consolidation. 

• Seamless Handover: Automatic updates and visibility ensure continuity during staff absences. 

By adopting this solution, you not only reduce the risk of stockouts and improve oversight but also enable your supply chain professionals to manage more trials per full-time equivalent (FTE). 

Demand Aggregation and Pooled Supplies 

One common challenge is aggregating demands from multiple trials, each with its own forecast. Manual processes like copy/pasting and summing demands are time-consuming and error prone. The SmartSignals Supplies solution offers automatic Bill of Materials (BoM) aggregation, simplifying this complex task. 

Benefits include: 

• Automatic Demand Calculation: For every item from API to Patient Kit. 

• Integrated Inventory Management: Real-time updates and lot allocations. 

• Elimination of Manual Errors: Reducing the risk and time associated with manual updates. 

This results in a leaner supply chain with reduced waste. Additionally, the solution handles comparator drugs, co-medications, ancillaries, and medical devices effortlessly, ensuring comprehensive forecasting with minimal effort. 

Scenario Analysis

Conducting scenario-based analysis with spreadsheets is often cumbersome or neglected altogether. The SmartSignals Supplies applications enable targeted, specific scenario analysis effortlessly. 

Advantages include: 

• Proactive Planning: Adjust batch sizes based on dropout rates and other variables. 

• Risk Mitigation: Evaluate the impact of stability issues and short-dated lots. 

• Comparative Analysis: Compare best and worst-case recruitment scenarios with existing supply plans. 

This capability not only de-risks your supply chain but also facilitates significant cost savings. 

Conclusion 

Signant SmartSignals^® Supplies lets you run your clinical supplies lean at all BoM levels without introducing undue risk, leading to substantial savings. The intangible benefits—like improved efficiency, better risk management, streamlined collaboration, and enhanced scalability—are equally crucial. We collaborate with customers of all sizes to demonstrate these savings and look forward to discussing how our products can benefit your supply chain operations. 

By leveraging cloud-based SCM solutions, you can transform your supply chain management, ensuring not only cost efficiency but also a robust, risk-resilient operation.