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The Indian pharmaceutical industry is 3rd largest in the world in terms of volumeaccounting 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 fragmentedwith severe price competition and government price control. There areapproximately 250 large units and more than 8,000 small scale units, which form thecore of the Pharmaceutical industry in India.

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

In this environment, it is no surprise that companiesthroughout the industry are hungry for opportunities to improve the efficiency oftheir operations, better understand their customers demands, and devise morecreative responses to the marketplaces challenges.

The criticality of a seamless supply chain network is often underestimated in theindustry. A recent study has quoted that pharmaceutical companies are trying to cutdown product development time to save costs. For example, a drug manufacturerwho 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$ 1million a day. So, pharmaceutical companies today are designing the supply chain tobe as responsive as possible to reduce entry time to the market thereby increasingprofit margins.The Pharma Supply Chain is highly sensitive where anything less than 100 percentcustomer service level is unacceptable as it directly impacts patient health andsafety.

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

technologies adopted by Pharmaceutical companies in India totrack and trace product movement and to check counterfeiting across the supplychain.

Analytical tools and data-based decision tools such as Enterprise Resource Planning(ERP) have been implemented by many Pharma companies to fine tune traditional

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forecasting and replenishment strategies

This analytically driven nimbleness hasallowed leading manufacturers to increase their speed-to-market while improvingtheir management of working capital critical capabilities in a world whereproduct lifespans are shrinking year after year.

Implementing ERP typically requires changing existing business processes. Poorunderstanding of needed process changes prior to starting implementation is themain reason for project failure. It is therefore crucial that organizations thoroughlyanalyze business processes before implementation