Leer lessen van enkele belangrijke bedrijven in China

Door Russel Beron

De innovatie is een woord wij a lot more van in China deze dagen horen. De consensus is dat als productiekosten in China blijf toenemen en de verhogingen van de kettingsingewikkeldheid leveren, zodat moeten de bedrijven vernieuwen zowel om geld te besparen als efficiency te verhogen.

In dit verhaal nemen wij dieper onderzoeken wat een paar bedrijven en personen in buitenlands China, zowel als Chinees de manier in de dienst, leveranciersbeheer, de implementatie van IT, evenals kosten en procesefficiency doen leiden. Deze bedrijven en personen waren alle winnaars van toekenning bij de Top CHaINA van November 2007.

De vooruitgang over de leveringsketen in China neemt de vorm van de nieuwe implementaties van IT, grotere niveaus van aan de dienst door 3PL's, beter leveranciersbeheer, strategische plaats van verrichtingen en een verhoogde nadruk op binnenlands R&D en ontwikkeling van lokale menselijke en andere hulpbronnen.

De menselijke rand van de farmaceutische leveringsketen

In de snel veranderende collectieve wereld is het zeldzaam deze dagen om iemand te vinden wie één bedrijf praktisch tot zijn volledige carrière heeft gemaakt. Dit is vooral waar in China waar leveringsketen de beheersdeskundigheid in de ongelooflijk hoge vraag is en de stafmedewerkers hun oogst van banen kunnen hebben. “I love Bayer,” proclaims Dittmar Nerger in an interview with CHaINA Magazine, speaking enthusiastically of the company he has worked at for 25 years in various capacities and in different countries including Germany, the US, Korea and China.

Nerger was the recipient of China’s Supply Chain Executive of the Year award at the November 2007 CHaINA Summit Awards. His team of four people is responsible for sourcing raw materials and services for much of Bayer’s global production of drugs. From their Shanghai office overlooking the old Bund and the busy freight traffic of the Huangpu river, Nerger’s team develops sophisticated sourcing strategies and evaluates and manages suppliers from across Greater China.

In 1994, Nerger transferred to Bayer in Korea to take responsibility for Technical Operations of animal health, pharmaceutical and vaccines products. After being responsible for the global Technical Operations of one of Bayer Healthcare’s Divisions in Germany from 1998-2002, he moved to Chengdu, in the capacity of General Manager of Bayer’s JV, where he still serves as Chairman. Nerger received the Bayer Healthcare Asia Pacific Star Award in 2005 for his efforts in turning around the business and profitability of this venture. In 2004, Dr. Nerger accepted the task to establish a new department in Shanghai for Sourcing for Bayer HealthCare’s Global Divisions.

Sourcing pharmaceuticals isn’t easy

“Pharmaceutical supply chains can be very complex,” says Nerger. “With the supply chain we have to warrant compliance and quality and at the same time ensure a competitive, flexible and timely supply. We have to remember that the money that we get comes from our customer and we need to deliver the best product at the best price.”

Unlike other types of sourcing, Angela Ye, one of Nerger’s team members adds, “With pharmaceutical sourcing the procedure is more complicated and time consuming mainly because the industry is so highly regulated. We source everything related to the drug: the raw material intermediate and the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) and increasingly the packaging and services.”

For one finished dosage, Nerger’s team might have to screen an initial 300 manufacturers, select about 100, then further reduce these to 10 or 20, before doing the RFP, RFI, RFQ, and selecting a final 3 companies to start the bidding and develop the supplier to Bayer’s required standards. This process can take up to 3 years.

Pharmaceutical transportation also brings its own challenges, says Richard Li, another of Nerger’s team. “We have to educate the local suppliers about safe handling and transport. The guiding principle is that package must be safe as well as operator friendly, so that the product is not contaminated, international rules and our customer’s requirements are followed.”

Why China?

Increasingly, Nerger’s team involves R&D in the sourcing process at an early stage, which allows the sourcing team to give input right at the research stage, which makes sense in terms of building in cost savings.

Why is China the right place for pharmaceutical sourcing, you might wonder? Isn’t China the place where companies come to do low cost, low value large manufacturing runs? Apparently things are changing.

“China offers a number of advantages, says Nerger. “The Chinese fine chemical industry is very fragmented, which makes it competitive and in certain cases also innovative. They also have access to certain raw materials in China. The major reason why it is effective to source pharmaceutical ingredients from China is that labour costs are lower, depreciation costs are lower and also structural costs are lower.

“Another major reason for being in China,” says Nerger, “is in terms of Clinical R&D, you can do a lot more in China with your research budget.”

Russel Beron, Chaina Magazine  www.Chainaonline.com

This is the first part of the Chaina article “Learn lessons from some of the leading companies in China”. Next week we will publish the second part.