SOPs for Pharmaceutical Industry

Lack of Automation. Automation speeds up businesses processes and operations. But to automate a business activity, it must be given a definition in terms of operational standards and procedures. This will help in identifying the automation requirements. Businesses that are not process-oriented find it difficult to map their automation needs. For example, bar code scanning at the time of billing significantly reduces the waiting time for customers in pharmacies. But if a medical store is not serious about becoming process-oriented and improving its operational efficiencies and customer experience, the need for process automation is unlikely to be recognized.

Meeting Market Demand. To successfully meet the market demand, businesses have to ensure the availability of stock as per demand forecasts or orders. A manufacturer has to set and meet its production targets. A retailer has to place orders to distributors. An export trader has to procure its inventory from suppliers. In essence, to meet the market demand, the corresponding volume of supply has to be ensured. Therefore, the production, supply chain, and/or distribution activities of businesses must run very efficiently and effectively. However, if these activities are not designed to run as strong processes and systems, there would be gaps between the demand requirements of the market and the value/supply chain activities of businesses.

Handling Inventory. Inventory management has two important operational aspects – paperwork and physical. The paperwork (which is also done digitally) deals with initiating purchase indents, communication between departments and with suppliers/distributors, bookkeeping of incoming and outgoing inventory, quality control reporting, etc. The physical aspect is related to activities that involve tangible interaction with inventory like counting, measuring, quality checks, lifting, loading, dispatching, etc. Both the paperwork and physical aspects must go hand-in-hand following the right sequence. This calls for a process-oriented approach for planning and executing inventory management activities. These two aspects will not work in tandem if inventory management processes and operations are not planned and mapped to achieve the objectives of the inventory function.

Training Needs. Training needs and specifications cannot be identified where the work procedures are not defined. With procedures in place, it becomes feasible to follow and keep track of the strengths and weaknesses in performances. The struggling areas in performance could be identified when the actual work and results deviate from the standards set. For example, if the delivery timelines are consistently missed by a few members of the delivery team, the problem deserves further analysis. It might be possible that these employees are new to the location assigned to them or they are not very convergent in using the GPS feature.
Lack of Customer-centric Approach. Especially in pharma retail, being focused on customer needs and experiences is critical to compete effectively against both online and offline stores. A strong CRM helps to better understand consumer behaviour, improve customer experience, come up with better product ideas, attract new customers, build more web traffic and user engagement, achieve higher conversion rates, etc. Not having strong CRM processes and systems aided by automation and analytics to achieve insights required to bring these results and improvements would stymie marketing success.

Inadequate Quality Control Measures. Amidst the pandemic of 2020, the global demand for hand sanitizers and face masks surged unprecedentedly. The pharma industry was not ready to handle such levels of demand. But months later the supply in the market was boosted with inferior quality products priced exorbitantly. The problem was the entry of a large number of small, ad-hoc and new players in the market with poor concerns for product quality. This happens and will happen every time processes and QC measures are sent for a toss.

Poor Organizational Functioning. Every business needs a strong organization structure to function as one unit. There could be multiple departments, projects, processes, and operations, all going on at the same time. There are interdependencies involved and a need for synchronized functioning. Where the processes and systems are poorly designed and mapped, these interdependencies cannot actualize that will eventually lead to disruptions in the flow of communication and work across the organization. The core and support functions are critical for any business including ones in the pharmaceutical industry.