Supplier Management is becoming increasingly crucial as outsourcing pharmaceutical products and raw materials has risen. Additionally, social media plays a significant factor in companies wishing to engage in supplier quality management since any quality issue that makes it to the consumer can instantaneously become widespread and increase the amount of negative publicity. As such, pharmaceutical manufacturers are paying closer attention to supplier quality and taking a proactive and collaborative approach to supplier quality management. There are four cornerstones to supplier management in the pharmaceutical industry:
- Alignment: the supplier quality strategy should be aligned with the company’s overarching quality objectives. While this is not always possible, it will help mitigate supplier quality issues in the future.
- Functionality: Ensuring the suppliers have a functional quality system with defined standards and processes is crucial. This allows the supplier to conduct product quality planning and root cause analysis of any issues that may arise.
- Supplier quality organization and governance.
- Supplier quality mindset and capabilities: If a supplier is required to pay attention to quality issues, not just due to the supplier agreement, but because of internal systems, it decreases the likelihood of the problems making it the manufacturer.
In the past few years, as supply chains have been disrupted, operations moved into remote or hybrid roles, the necessity for robust supplier management has increased. Since pharmaceutical manufacturers supply the world with life-saving medications, they have found themselves facing ever-increasing challenges. Manufacturers and suppliers must comply with local restrictions while taking the necessary steps to protect their own employees’ health.
With the restrictions due to COVID-19, product quality is at more risk than ever. Ensuring suppliers have the proper quality management systems in place can significantly reduce the risk assumed by the manufacturer. EMMA International can help pharmaceutical suppliers implement and adapt their quality management systems to the everchanging challenges. -Contact EMMA International today by phone at 248-987-4497 or by email at info@emmainternational.com.
