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The future of manufacturing in life sciences – beyond supply and demand

Advanced analytics, including AI, are already starting to accelerate, and improve the results, of clinical trials. But that’s just the start. When applied across the entire value chain, analytics can build resilience, and transform drug delivery and patient outcomes.

Analytics are a key enabler for modern industry – including Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), powerful data control towers, data visualisation and digital twins.

Supporting rapid and optimal decision-making, analytics take organisations closer to goals such as dynamic forecasting and lights-out automation.

Some of the organisations we work with are using them to support highly efficient automated laboratories, and achieve bold ambitions like zero defects and zero waste in an industry where wastage can amount to 50%.

Despite the benefits, however, life sciences has historically been slower to fully leverage analytics compared to other sectors, like banking and retail, according to a report from McKinsey.

Leaders surveyed for the report said that ‘digital and analytics’ had driven improvements of between $6 billion and $9 billion – yet there’s an estimated $130 billion to $190 billion that could be unlocked by full digitisation across the value chain.

There may be good reasons why leaders in the sector have been cautious about implementing analytics across their operation.

Off-the-shelf manufacturing solutions, delivered by vendors with limited experience of life sciences, are not always suited to the management of complex biologic production processes in a highly regulated environment.

Equally, building a solution from scratch takes time and in-house IT expertise they do not necessarily have.

Even so, these barriers can, and must, be overcome if life sciences organisations are to avoid the poor decision-making associated with limited data sets, and error-prone manual processes.
Moreover, in an interconnected global market, analytics shouldn’t be limited to a handful of processes nor used by teams in silos. They are central to the manufacturing road map, providing end-to-end visibility and helping to ensure that every action and process delivers value.

For example, one expert suggests that organisations now planning to reduce their reliance on overseas manufacturers in the wake of global disruption will need to consider how they prioritise ‘investments in new assets, capabilities, processes and technologies’. This includes whether to build, buy or partner with experts to develop their new operating model.

Working with an established life sciences analytics partner provides a middle ground between a generic solution and building one from scratch. With a single cloud-based GMP-compliant analytics framework, tailored to their specific requirements, manufacturers can start to leverage analytics more widely across the business.

It’s possible to generate ever-increasing volumes of data, and more insights and scenarios, so the real value of analytics comes when they drive actions, linked to KPIs.
Predictive and prescriptive analytics support smart and efficient decision-making, while also avoiding the risk of alert fatigue – automating, for instance, system maintenance and reducing downtime.

Embedding analytics in their organisation means that leaders can actively, and proactively, optimise their processes and respond quickly to changes in the market to increase the organisation’s metabolic rate of response.

The efficiencies and productivity gains deliver tangible results – like zero waste – that ultimately drive improvements in product quality, delivery, safety and overall health outcomes. For manufacturers, it’s also an opportunity to reduce the cost-to-compliance, become more competitive and enhance commercial performance.

Without analytics to shape their strategies and operations, organisations simply won’t keep pace with the expectations of consumers, clinicians, shareholders and regulators.

Analytics give confidence to stakeholders, both internal and external, that manufacturers can deliver innovative new treatments in the most cost-effective and compliant way possible.

Bobby Shkolnikov is Principal Global IoT Strategy and Commercialisation at SAS. Go to sas.com