Mobile Technology for Building Supply Chain Resilience: Lessons from Switzerland's Supply Chain

In an era of unprecedented disasters, supply chain resilience is necessary for the growth and survival of your business.

Recent data from DC Velocity highlights that 76% of supply chain professionals believe that achieving end-to-end visibility across their supply chain network is critical for business success.

Moreover, 62% of organizations have increased their investments in technologies enabling real-time visibility to enhance supply chain resilience.

In Switzerland, renowned for its precision and efficiency, supply chain leaders are implementing innovative strategies to bolster resilience amidst evolving global challenges.

The Importance of Supply Chain Resilience

So, how can businesses work towards a resilient supply chain? One notable example of supply chain resilience is the Swiss-based pharmaceutical giant, Roche. Their manufacturing, procurement, and logistics functions provide more than 100 medicines worldwide. Roche’s approach to building supply chain resilience centers around their “business continuity planning and risk management.”

Here are a few initiatives that set the Switzerland supply chain apart from the rest:

• Understanding the importance of supply chain resilience
• Building robust partnerships with suppliers and logistics providers
• Modernizing supply chain technology
• Automating data collection

Roche’s approach enhances agility, speed, innovation, and efficiency. They aim to deliver the best solutions to their patients as quickly as possible, positioning the company as a top-tier supplier in the healthcare industry.

Disruptions are inherent to the supply chain. Whether it is climate change, geopolitical tensions, or technological disruptions, your ability to quickly shift and adapt is paramount.

Companies that fail to prioritize resilience are vulnerable to:

• Disruptions: Poor supply chain resilience leaves businesses vulnerable to disruptions from natural disasters, political unrest, or sudden market changes. These interruptions can halt production, leading to lost revenue and eroding customer trust.
• Cost Volatility: A fragile supply chain is ill-prepared for the fluctuating costs of materials and logistics. This vulnerability can lead to unexpected expenses, squeezing margins and challenging financial stability.
• Competitive Disadvantage: Without resilience, businesses struggle to adapt to new demands or recover from setbacks as efficiently as their more agile competitors. Sluggishness not only costs opportunities but also risks losing market share.

Most warehouse managers don’t have a strategy to ensure supply chain stability, and very few have a plan in place to ensure their supply chain operations comply with environmental regulations, or can handle drastic changes in supply chain purchasing.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, supply chain leaders operating with preparedness allows them to face unpredictability. They can move swiftly, adjust to shocks, and recover with minimal impact on operations.

This is how resilience sets businesses apart as leaders whose success is not dependent on their circumstances.

Building Supply Chain Resilience: Working With Different Suppliers

When building supply chain resilience, Switzerland company, Roche, prioritizes building robust partnerships with suppliers and logistics providers. Their aim is “to ensure uninterrupted supply to patients.”

Like Roche, working with multiple suppliers can help minimize disruptions by reducing dependency on a single source. When problems arise, you still have access to alternative sources of materials, components, or services

Diversifying supplies enables you to:

• Adapt quickly to changing market dynamics
• Adjust to disruptions affecting a particular supplier
• Navigate uncertainties with confidence
• Build supply chain resilience

This trend in the global supply chain helps to mitigate risk and disruption across industries worldwide. If you’re ready to add another layer of protection to your supply chain, this tactic will have a positive impact on your resilience.

Using Technology to Build Resilience

Embracing advanced technology is critical in building supply chain resilience. Manual processes are as limited as the humans that operate them. And Switzerland biotech company, Roche, agrees.

In their article,?"Delivering Value Through Digital Manufacturing," Roche shares a quote from Global Head of Diagnostics Operations, Kent Kost. He explains that:

"The manufacturing industry is moving toward the use of digital technologies. Adopting and evolving these practices will help us in delivering value to patients, customers, businesses and our employees".

Ultimately, equipping your warehouse managers with technology grants you longevity. It is the key to unlocking new levels of visibility and nimbleness—all necessary to future-proof your supply chain.

Using Modern Mobile Technology

Efficient technology is integral to building a resilient supply chain. But outdated technology may only offer limited help.?

Only technology that matches today’s standards will be effective in improving your supply chain efficiency and mitigating risks.

According to a 2024 report that polled 100 senior decision-makers in the supply chain, “77 percent believe they that investing in inventory management, warehouse, and management drive higher sales.”?

The time may be now to invest in streamlining your mobile inventory operations. Inventory management is one area where technology can offer immense improvements in efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

There are data collection experts like RFgen who understand how to optimize supply chain processes to the fullest, helping you maximize your technology investment. Upgrading your barcode software can help take your inventory efficiency to the next level.

Implementing new supply chain technology represents a strong first step in being proactive in adapting to fluctuating market forces. Otherwise, you forfeit supply chain agility and resilience.

How Pfizer Invests in Mobile Tech to Build Supply Chain Resilience

Major pharmaceutical manufacturer, Pfizer, has long since implemented tactics from the global supply chain. Similar to Swiss-based company Roche, Pfizer uses mobile technology to deliver life-saving medicines around the world.

Through strategic investments in technology, sustainability, and workforce development, Pfizer is not just responding to the demands of today but is also shaping the future of pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution.

Pfizer’s supply chain strategy offers a blueprint for how science, technology, and visionary leadership can converge to build unprecedented resilience in supply chain management.

For Pfizer, digital technologies have become integral to Pfizer’s supply chain strategy. To achieve improvements in service and cycle times, the company focused on enhancing visibility and gaining live insights into operational data through technological means.

These technologies include:

• Digital tool integration for real-time tracking of shipments while ensuring timely delivery and quality control with less than 0.1% production loss.
• High-quality data collection for supply chain analytics and predictive planning.
• Cold chain technology for safe delivery of medicines requiring cold and ultra-cold storage.
• IoT devices integrated with cloud analytics platforms to ensure capture of environmental information, temperature, light levels, and more during shipment.
• Partnering with Zipline to overcome geographic and infrastructural hurdles in countries like Ghana by pioneering drone deliveries.
• Expanding drone deliveries to other aspects of its supply chain deliveries for underserved populations.

Developing these technological capabilities quickly and aggressively enables greater agility in the face of the unexpected, allowing Pfizer to future-proof its supply chain.

Adopting Switzerland Supply Chain Secrets

To stay competitive in global supply chain management requires resilience. And key factors to build supply chain resilience are establishing strong relationships with suppliers, investing in advanced technology, and automating your data collection. ?

If you’re ready to optimize your supply chain logistics management and keep up with the Switzerland supply chain, adopt these strategies, and you’ll be one step closer to a more resilient supply chain.

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