Why are you still planning in Excel and what to do about it?

Challenge

I recently conducted a poll and 73% of life science products were reported to be planned in MS Excel. If you plan to grow, you will know that what got you this far, will not be enough in the future.

From my experience, the primary issue is quite simply that the implemented software does not meet planner requirements. We are wowed by sexy dashboards and control towers while forgetting to ask fundamental questions.

Unfortunately, many times the requirements gathering phase isn’t robust enough. The consultant asks the team for a list, but they usually don’t know how to articulate their needs, and they get stuck with an expensive Ferrari that is permanently parked in the garage.

Solution

The key objective of any planning software is very simple - how much to order and when?

"How much do I order?"

"When do I order?"

If it can’t perform that basic function then everything else is useless. To create accurate recommendations your ERP system must be able to consider standard inputs eg, safety stock, lead times etc, and also ones that are more relevant to life sciences e.g. expiration dates, customer minimum remaining shelf-life requirements, testing protocols, lot number tracking etc.

Instead of “reinventing the wheel” start with a list of typical life science requirements and prioritize based upon their impact on creating accurate messages. Don’t assume that all planning software will meet these requirements. With this list, you can now evaluate software packages or diagnose post-implementation, adoption issues.

Even though there are many other considerations for a successful transition from Excel, without the ability to generate accurate recommendations, your initiative is destined to fail.

Results

We led a global project to leverage the ERP system for planning purposes at a pharmaceutical manufacturer. The ERP system had been in place for years, but planning was still being done in MS Excel, and senior management didn’t understand why.

By taking the approach described above we transitioned planning for all products from Excel to the ERP system. The Planners were initially resistant, but when we worked with them to understand and address their requirements, the resistance slowly disappeared. Ultimately, almost every material in the end-to-end supply chain, from raw materials to finished goods was being planned in ERP, for clinical and commercial products.

To learn more about BioSupply, please visit their website https://biosupplyconsulting.com/