How to Choose and Maintain the Right Clinical Trial Suppliers
Ahead of the Clinical Trial Supply Forum 2022, we spoke to Luiz Barberini, Head of External Manufacturing & Supply – LATAM at Bayer about the key challenges confronting the supply chain, approaches to solving these challenges, the biggest opportunities and how to drive the future of biopharmaceutical supply.
What are your top tips and solutions for overcoming supply chain challenges?
It is important to rely on your supplier. The biggest challenge we have today is that some companies think they can do better and think they have the best solution. However, sometimes your supplier has the best alternative for you. There are a few interesting points that we must discuss. The first key aspect is that you need suppliers that share the same focus, targets and vision as you and solve the same problems that you do. For example, I need a supplier that works with me in building the structure that I need and helps me go all the way to my consumers.
Only when you have a supplier that shares the same vision as you, then you can rely on these suppliers to be innovative and bring you the solutions that you need. Whereas, if you have one supplier that only focuses on what is new and not on your demands, then they will not look for alternative solutions. This is a very common mistake that companies do.
What are the biggest opportunities that have opened up for the supply chain, and how did you take advantage of these?
There are two key relationship factors, the first one is the bacon and eggs discussion. For example, when someone asks for bacon and eggs, the chicken is involved in the process, as they can supply the eggs for your breakfast, but the pork is committed and much more engaging. They provide different elements to the relationship, and this is the kind of relationship that I expect from a supplier, they need to go much deeper to provide a solution for you. This will help to strengthen your relationship and make it more trustworthy. Once you have this kind of feedback from your supplier, you will stay with that supplier, as they are doing something different for you.
The second one is to play paddleball with your supplier. For example, when you play paddleball, you can spend hours sending a good ball to your partner, and they keep giving a good ball back to you, so the game keeps moving forward. This is great and reminds me of something that we should do with our suppliers. Sometimes companies place tennis with their supplier, and what I mean by this is that they try to better their partners rather than work harmoniously with them. Most companies do not even realise that they do this, for example on a clinical trial if you do not give enough information about the right patient profile for what you are trying to achieve but expect your clinical suppliers to deliver good results from the research. Therefore, you must communicate with your supplier to get this information, and if you play paddleball and send good balls to your partner, the odds are they will give good balls back.
The future does not belong to companies but to supply chains. It is not the best company that will be the most profitable and continue to exist in the future, but the companies that have the best supply integration, from raw materials to the customer. However, most companies seem to forget that they need to focus on the customer, and instead they focus on their business and how to make that happen. I would say that the best way to integrate the suppliers that we have, and all your networks is through the right communication. For example, when you go to your clinical trial supplier, you need to build up a trustworthy relationship to have open communication, whereby if they have a problem, they need to trust you that there will be no consequences if they openly discuss the problems they are having. Therefore, it is vital to reinforce the trust in your relationship, then the communication will be even clearer. It is not so easy, but once you start to build this trust, the communication will help you a lot in the future.
Want to maintain positive relationships with your clinical trial suppliers?
Join the world’s industry experts on 17 - 19 May 2022 at The President Brussels Hotel in Brussels, Belgium to help you optimise processes across the supply chain and maintain positive relationships with your clinical trial suppliers, at the Clinical Trial Supply Forum 2022.
