Forecasting and supply planning: A best practice guide for the biopharmaceutical supply industry and assessment tool

The Forecasting and Demand Planning (FDP) workstream has looked at the problems that cause biomanufacturers and their suppliers to under and over plan commercial biologic drug manufacturing demands.

This guide defines the participating biomanufacturers’ and suppliers’ perspectives of the industry’s current roadblocks, the best practices that need to be more widely adopted and the business case for change.

“This best practice guide is something that will serve as a baseline in the industry for forecasting and demand planning” says Cheryl Simmons, Senior Manager, AstraZeneca. “It will help a supplier or drug manufacturer recognise what is considered best practice in areas such as supplier relationship management or performance management. Furthermore, it will allow them to see what their current status is and what their future status should look like.”

In order to define, prioritize and measure improvement opportunities across the industry, a Forecasting and supply planning maturity assessment tool has been developed to go along with the Best practice guide. The maturity assessment tool available here will identify an organization’s status against industry norms and best practice. To test it the companies who have built it have all used the survey to understand their own status, and will use it to track their progress as they fully implement the guidance.

Dan Tropea, Director of Supply Chain, NewAge/AdvantaPure reflected that “Some of [the survey] was alarming in that there was a gap between what best-in-class is and what the reality is. However, where there is alarm, there is an opportunity. It is a challenge to the BPOG membership to improve.

“The survey results allow us to set new levels of collaboration with our external partners. Our strategic plans are now dedicated to help build relationships that incorporate some of the targets in the survey. Using the survey gap analysis helped AdvantaPure develop a different mind set regarding how to manage our customers’ demands.”

An assessment result will provide a blueprint of the strengths and weaknesses that an organization needs to address to elevate its forecasting and supply planning processes. A video explaining the intent and purpose of the maturity assessment is also available here.