Optimization of risk - both upstream and down - West Pharmaceutical
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Opmizaon of Risk – Both Upstream and Down – at West Pharmaceucal Services, Inc. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. is a pharma packaging and delivery company based in Pennsylvania but serving a global mar- ket and clientele. They supply a number of different sectors of the life sciences industry through an extended supply chain that is cri- cal to their success. Like many other companies, West has gone through an evoluon in terms of how they look at their supply chain as well as the role they play in the chains of others. D r. Carsten Meissner, West’s Director of Global Sup- ply Chain Management for Standards and Improve- ments, recently agreed to share the vision behind West’s decision to engage riskmethods, a SaaS, cloud- based supply chain risk management soluon, in their efforts to beer understand threats in the supply chain. Historically, risk management was embedded in each cor- porate funcon at West (such as global sourcing). This di- vision of efforts gave them greater control at a funconal level, but provided a segmented view of both risks and potenal impacts to the enterprise. West recognized the need to connect their value chain, from customers through suppliers. Purchasing and operaons were joined with demand planning to form a supply chain management organizaon. While the effort started with a European focus, it ulmately needed to become global in scope, which greatly increased its complexity. That complexity required that someone like Dr. Meissner, who has a Ph. D. in chemistry as well as experience in mar- keng, purchasing, and logiscs, be given the responsibi- lity of focusing on the processes and structures through which West manages their supply chain. His philosophy on how this can be accomplished requires as much focus on the big picture as the supply chain itself. A big picture view is definitely in order. There is a signifi- cant difference between idenfying threats and seeing the true risk of what can happen vs. what will be impacted. Ja- pan may be at risk of earthquakes, but, to a certain extent, they are prepared to handle them. What West is looking to uncover are unmigated threats: unexpected by the buying company, their suppliers, and their customers. While West embraced the idea of adding a supply chain risk soluon to their framework, they wanted to do it with- out starng from scratch. They had other systems and pro- cesses in place that were important to their operaons. West evaluated several compeng soluons, focusing on the following needs: • Robustness of available databases • Ease of implementaon and usage, geng informaon directly into the hands of users with minimum main- tenance. • Ability to compliment rather than replace exisng processes, and the flexibility to address both up and downstream risks According to Dr. Meissner, the movang queson at West was, ‘What addional informaon can you give us access to?’ riskmethods was implemented at West in only 4 days, with minimal resource effort and no implementaon project team. They very quickly helped the team bridge from their old way of managing risk, to a more automated forward-looking approach. The old way of tracking risk started with a suspicion about a spend category or supplier. West would then dig into the informaon that might prove or disprove their con- cern. riskmethods raises data-substanated ‘suspicions’ and therefore, because the alerts are based on fact, they are already connected to details that can be reviewed for further acon. This ability to view informaon graphically at a high level, such as on riskmethods’ interacve world map, and also drill down into detailed risk profiles, has proven crical at West. Dr. Carsten Meissner, Director Global Supply Chain “If managing risk by increasing visibility and understanding is a good thing, which we believe it is, then it is not an upstream or downstream effort, but an underta- king that requires acve parcipaon by the enre chain,” Dr. Meissner said.
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Transcript of Optimization of risk - both upstream and down - West Pharmaceutical
Opti mizati on of Risk – Both Upstream and Down – at West Pharmaceuti cal Services, Inc.
West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. is a pharma packaging and delivery company based in Pennsylvania but serving a global mar-ket and clientele. They supply a number of diff erent sectors of the life sciences industry through an extended supply chain that is cri-ti cal to their success. Like many other companies, West has gone through an evoluti on in terms of how they look at their supply chain as well as the role they play in the chains of others.
Dr. Carsten Meissner, West’s Director of Global Sup-ply Chain Management for Standards and Improve-ments, recently agreed to share the vision behind
West’s decision to engage riskmethods, a SaaS, cloud-based supply chain risk management soluti on, in their eff orts to bett er understand threats in the supply chain.
Historically, risk management was embedded in each cor-porate functi on at West (such as global sourcing). This di-vision of eff orts gave them greater control at a functi onal level, but provided a segmented view of both risks and potenti al impacts to the enterprise. West recognized the need to connect their value chain, from customers through suppliers. Purchasing and operati ons were joined with demand planning to form a supply chain management organizati on. While the eff ort started with a European focus, it ulti mately needed to become global in scope, which greatly increased its complexity.
That complexity required that someone like Dr. Meissner, who has a Ph. D. in chemistry as well as experience in mar-keti ng, purchasing, and logisti cs, be given the responsibi-lity of focusing on the processes and structures through which West manages their supply chain. His philosophy on how this can be accomplished requires as much focus on the big picture as the supply chain itself.
A big picture view is defi nitely in order. There is a signifi -cant diff erence between identi fying threats and seeing the true risk of what can happen vs. what will be impacted. Ja-pan may be at risk of earthquakes, but, to a certain extent, they are prepared to handle them. What West is looking to uncover are unmiti gated threats: unexpected by the buying company, their suppliers, and their customers.
While West embraced the idea of adding a supply chain risk soluti on to their framework, they wanted to do it with-out starti ng from scratch. They had other systems and pro-cesses in place that were important to their operati ons. West evaluated several competi ng soluti ons, focusing on the following needs:
• Robustness of available databases • Ease of implementati on and usage, getti ng informati on
directly into the hands of users with minimum main-tenance.
• Ability to compliment rather than replace existi ng processes, and the fl exibility to address both up and downstream risks
According to Dr. Meissner, the moti vati ng questi on at West was, ‘What additi onal informati on can you give us access to?’ riskmethods was implemented at West in only 4 days, with minimal resource eff ort and no implementati on project team. They very quickly helped the team bridge from their old way of managing risk, to a more automated forward-looking approach.
The old way of tracking risk started with a suspicion about a spend category or supplier. West would then dig into the informati on that might prove or disprove their con-cern. riskmethods raises data-substanti ated ‘suspicions’ and therefore, because the alerts are based on fact, they are already connected to details that can be reviewed for further acti on. This ability to view informati on graphically at a high level, such as on riskmethods’ interacti ve world map, and also drill down into detailed risk profi les, has proven criti cal at West.
Dr. Carsten Meissner,Director Global Supply Chain
“If managing risk by increasing visibility and understanding is a good thing, which we believe it is, then it is not an upstream or downstream eff ort, but an underta-king that requires acti ve parti cipati on by the enti re chain,” Dr. Meissner said.
This is where riskmethods’ ability to empower members of the supply chain team is particularly relevant. Risk management is ulti mately about prioriti zati on, and this is an area of practi ce that riskmethods helps West handle more effi ciently. riskmethods increases the lead ti me that West has to make a decision about what to do in response to a rising or materialized risk.
The edge associated with that lead ti me comes from an automated rather than manual approach to gathering the informati on that informs risk management – parti cularly with regard to fi nancials, but also including natural events, compliance issues, sancti ons regimes, labor strikes, and politi cal instability. riskmethods provides 24/7 automa-ted monitoring with proacti ve alerts and risk scorecards, which empower West to determine what threats are rele-vant to them and which require a response.
While West is early in their journey, riskmethods is being used by many functi ons within the organizati on (including purchasing) and usage and applicati on are both increa-sing. That is a good thing, as West’s clients are constantly increasing their own requirements, not only in terms of quality and price, but with increased specifi city on delivery ti ming.
Ulti mately, competi ti ve companies must increase the co-operati on between diff erent partners in the supply chain. The enti re chain benefi ts if each link does the same. No one is acti ng alone, and defi ning an industry standard builds both trust and confi dence. A company can not un-derstand their risk profi le without including the context provided by visibility into and from all the other links of the chain.
Dr. Carsten Meissner,Director Global Supply Chain
“Managing risk is never about complete eliminati on. Not only is that an impossi-bility, but good business leaders under-stand that risk creates opportunity.”
riskmethods GmbH
Orleansstraße 4 • 81669 München • Tel.: +49(0) 89 - 9901 648-0 • [email protected] • www.riskmethods.net
Opti mizati on of Risk – Both Upstream and Down – at West Pharmaceuti cal Services, Inc.
It is that chain that will ulti mately determine the advan-tage available to any of its parti cipants. West has emb-raced this idea wholeheartedly, understanding that they should welcome inquiries about their supply chain just as they look to cement their own.
We are delighted to share Buyer’s Meeti ng Point’s recent interview with our customer, West Pharmaceuti cal. Hear directly from Dr. Carsten Meissner, Global Supply Chain Management for Standards and Improvements at West Pharmaceuti cal about their Supply Chain Risk Manage-ment transformati on detailing everything from their vision to evaluati on criteria, and why they ulti mately selected riskmethods.
Dr. Carsten Meissner,Director Global Supply Chain
“Evaluati ng companies based on their risk profi le will be an increasing part of our supplier selecti on criteria going for-ward,” said Dr. Meissner. “West Phar-maceuti cal Services, Inc. hopes that the same mindset among our customers will drive more business our way based on our ability to understand, manage, and miti gate risk in the supply chain.”
