Scaled 3PL Solutions Heal Pharma’s Supply Chain

Being entangled in complexity is typical of some companies’ supply chains. Companies in highly regulated sectors often bear the burden of managing increasingly complex, intricate supply chains while facing a greater level of scrutiny than other businesses. Fines can even be incurred for severe supply chain disruptions.

Hub Group professionals understand, and they regularly apply technologically advanced, scalable solutions to simplify these complexities.

The supply chain team for a large pharmaceutical company realized it needed a third-party logistics (3PL) provider when it was so tied up in the tedious process of assigning carriers for its large portfolio of products—each with a diverse set of compliance and customer requirements—that it couldn’t advance its supply chain strategy. The company sought to consolidate its carrier base and reduce the effort to manage its massive supply chain.

Upon learning of Hub Group’s outsourced 3PL services, the supply chain team saw how it could apply Hub Group’s tools and processes across its entire network to fulfill a simple, central objective: Achieve compliance with the best service at a reasonable cost.

Using optimization tactics, deep carrier relationships and creative thinking, Hub Group has simplified this complex network and continuously pursues even greater efficiencies.

Four Steps to Logistics Simplicity

1. First, Hub Group conducted a full analysis of the company’s outbound network. Its network included hundreds of customers and even more carriers, each with its own unique requirements and processes. The analysis identified portions of the network that were prime candidates for optimization and uncovered carrier payments that were significantly higher than Hub Group’s negotiated carrier contracts.

2. Hub Group then modeled every feasible scenario, sometimes in excess of 40 in the span of just a few weeks. Each scenario was accompanied by recommendations on how to achieve the perfect balance of the customer’s three core variables: compliance, service and cost.

3. Recognizing efficiency that could be achieved with a single point of contact, Hub Group inserted itself as the intermediary between the carrier network and the manufacturer. This change streamlined communication and delivered a single point of accountability for the outbound network while nimbly managing carrier compliance, performance and pricing.

4. Hub Group then applied its leading technology and internal business intelligence teams to develop a customized dashboard tying every point in the customer’s network to a central system. The dashboard provides a financial pulse of its network along with key insights to performance and compliance.

Sustained, Scalable Results

With a focus on stability, Hub Group quickly engineered and executed its scalable solutions to preserve and support customer relationships. The scalability of Hub Group’s services was the highlight of the solution. As the customer identifies a new opportunity or a problematic segment of its supply chain, Hub Group works alongside its team, feeding it data, analysis and recommendations as needed.

Hub Group continues to independently monitor the supply chain, pinpointing inefficiencies in existing solutions, challenging processes and maintaining a collaborative approach to continuous improvement.

Visit www.hubgroup.com for more information.