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Automate to Innovate: Automating Incoming Goods in Pharmaceutical Procurement
Following our previous discussion in “Unpacking the Complex World of Pharmaceutical Procurement,” this piece explores the transformative impact of automation on pharmaceutical procurement. We delve into how automating the handling of incoming goods is not just a solution to current challenges but a significant step towards innovative procurement processes in the pharmaceutical industry.
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Revisiting the Main Pharmaceutical Procurement Challenges
Pharmaceutical procurement, especially concerning hazardous or critical goods, demands stringent adherence to quality and safety standards. Like in other industries, such as the chemicals and materials industry or the engineering and manufacturing sector, this necessitates detailed information and documentation management and processing of various documents, including certificates, delivery notes, and goods records. Due to these distinct characteristics and requirements of pharmaceutical procurement, procurement managers are confronted with significant challenges: efficiently managing vast information databases, swiftly processing critical documents, overcoming the hurdles of manual data entry, and time-consuming data archiving, all of which divert focus from other tasks.
Pharmaceutical Procurement Automation: Why Pharma Procurement Needs Transformation
Over the last few years, the expectations placed on pharma procurement departments to meet requirements and quality standards while controlling costs and managing volatile supply chains have risen and are expected to rise further. These teams face a dual challenge: driving value creation and innovation while ensuring transparent and stable processes. Unfortunately, manual tasks often hinder their efficiency. To remain agile and future-ready, transforming pharmaceutical procurement through automation is not just beneficial but essential.
Reasons for Automating Incoming Goods
In pharmaceutical procurement, it is essential for procurement teams to plan ahead and maintain stable, uninterrupted workflows. The daily influx of raw materials, medical products, ampoules, and packaging necessitates well-organised and clear documentation. Automating these processes not only alleviates the burden on procurement teams but also enhances speed and accuracy. This automation extends to the processing of certificates and delivery notes, ensuring a seamless integration into the procurement system.
Automating Certificates and Delivery Notes in Pharmaceutical Procurement
In pharmaceutical procurement, hazardous goods are sent with a certificate. As these goods are mostly shipped in batches, each batch is delivered with a certificate. Consequently, when one order is delivered in 20 batches, 20 certificates need to be processed. Processing these certificates and delivery notes manually not only increases workload but is prone to errors.
Automated processing of delivery notes enhances the efficiency of incoming goods management, allowing for advanced knowledge of batch details and necessary storage conditions. This comprehensive automation ensures that procurement teams have access to vital information, facilitating informed decision-making and swift response to changes.
The Benefits of Automated Archiving
Document archiving, a critical component of the pharmaceutical P2P process, can be a daunting and monotonous task, if performed manually. Implementing automation solutions transforms this essential function by enabling rapid and accurate archiving of vital documents like certificates and records. Automated extraction, processing, and archiving of information ensure that documents are always readily accessible, significantly boosting efficiency and reliability in the procurement process.
The Benefits of Automating Incoming Goods and Archiving
Automating incoming goods and archiving offers numerous benefits to overcome challenges of pharmaceutical procurement. It minimises manual labor, significantly saving time and reducing errors. This shift allows staff to allocate their focus to other critical areas. Automated processes ensure streamlined operations, enhanced data quality, and consistent transparency, with reliable information readily available. The resulting structured data empowers teams to make informed decisions, plan, react to unforeseen changes, adapt to requirements and adhere to quality standards.
Choosing Wisely: Finding the Perfect Automation Software for Pharmaceutical Procurement Automation
For pharmaceutical procurement automation to be successful, it is vital to choose the right automation solution. When automating incoming goods and document processing, choosing a sophisticated, intelligent automation solution is paramount. Cloud-based Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) platforms, such as the Netfira Platform, are adept at accurately extracting and validating data from documents, thus ensuring high-quality data. Further, integration with existing systems, like ERP and CRM, is essential for seamless data flow and efficient archiving. On top of that, the scalability of cloud-based IDP solutions allows for the expansion of automation to other areas like invoice processing, further enhancing the procurement process.
Pharmaceutical Procurement Automation: Automating Incoming Goods Processes
The automation of incoming goods is a cornerstone of pharmaceutical procurement automation. By automating the processing of documents such as certificates and delivery notes, pharmaceutical procurement teams are relieved of time-consuming and error-prone manual activities. This automation facilitates faster and more efficient workflows, significantly enhancing decision-making and planning capabilities. Advanced Intelligent Document Processing solutions, such as the Netfira Platform, are exceptionally equipped to meet the rigorous demands of pharmaceutical procurement. Thanks to their extraordinary precision in data extraction and validation, they provide the necessary data quality, process stability and transparency to make procurement in the pharmaceutical industry competitive and future-proof.
