Consulting Services

The evolution of finished goods healthcare products and their flow across supply chains covers many activities in a complex network of interlinked activity. As new products arrive, grow, mature, expire and are decommissioned, they travel across the various stages of the supply chain from pack through to patient. Each stage of the product lifecycle and each point of the supply chain requires identification, assessment, planning and management. As healthcare product and supply chain experts, we assist our clients across all these areas, from establishing new products and supply chains, commercialising product and facilitating new geographical markets, through to partner selection and optimisation of existing supply chains. Our tried and tested methodologies rooted in strategic planning, implementation and operation help our clients to establish, improve and optimise their supply chains and appropriately manage the lifecycle of their products.

The performance of healthcare supply chain processes has come under increasing scrutiny as traditional, vertical, integrated supply chains are becoming ever more complex and the requirement for world class supporting processes which are flexible and able to facilitate growth is of paramount importance to commercial success. Introducing and maintaining a comprehensive, fit for purpose suite of processes is now a cornerstone of capable supply chain management. At Be4ward, our significant collective experience in supply chain management equips us with a wealth of successful methodologies to design, build and enhance the effectiveness of your supply chain processes.

Whether you are already on your serialisation or traceability journey, or just embarking on it, we have a broad range of consulting services to inform your programme, project or operations. For over 15 years, our team has been working with a diverse range of global pharmaceutical, biotech companies and with their CMOs to deliver fit for purpose, robust traceability solutions. We work across the whole lifecycle of traceability and serialisation solution implementation, keeping pace with evolving legislations, ensuring our clients remain compliant and their supply chains secure.

Packaging design, operations and portfolio management form an important early stage of the finished goods supply chain and product lifecycle. Product packaging is cross-functional and cross-organisational in nature and without being fully optimised and managed correctly, packaging processes can be a drain on company resources both financially and with labour. From the design of a unit pack, to the content of a portfolio, through to the packaging process - we apply our significant expertise in this area to assess, determine areas for improvement and deliver those improvements to our client’s packaging operations. We examine how a product portfolio drives the packaging requirements and eliminate unnecessary complexity. We implement capabilities to manage the right complexities and we ensure pack design is efficient, compliant and fit-for-purpose so that the packaging process seamlessly feeds into the wider supply chain.

Packaging labelling and artwork present a significant compliance risk, they also represent one of the largest causes of recalls in the healthcare industry. For many companies, their current capabilities are struggling to meet today’s requirements. We have transformed and managed the global artwork operations for many of the world’s healthcare companies. Our methodologies feature a broad range of labelling and artwork services centered around strategic planning, implementation and operation aimed at forming world class capabilities to mitigate risk and reduce level of recalls due to labelling and artwork error.

Mergers and acquisitions can present many challenges brought about by changes to the legal structure of a business, the licence owner, moving to new manufacturing plants or harmonising corporate branding. Timeframes for managing these changes are often tight and the change environment highly pressured, resulting in significant risk to supply and the associated financial repercussions. We apply our expert experience and sound consultancy skills within central governance, knowledge sharing, monitoring and corrective-action management to design optimal overall solutions to manage seamless legal entity integration.

Change within the supply chain is inevitable. With the arrival of new products, moving to new markets, external influences and developing new partnerships – effective programme management, incorporating multiple individual projects, is of paramount importance to ensure the continued and efficient flow of supply chain. Our team has a wealth of experience in programme and change management, acquired from decades of experience across a number of sectors. Using our proven toolkit of methodologies, we map goals, manage timelines, secure funding, manage resources, mitigate risk and facilitate first class communications to ensure our client’s programmes are delivered in a timely and effective manner.