Digitally Enabled, Powered by People

I was incredibly energized to participate in this year's Reuters Events: Supply Chain in Chicago, where I had the opportunity to sit down with Richelle Carey to discuss how Bristol Myers Squibb is translating science into medicines through our global product development and supply chain capabilities. For context, our product development and supply organization plays the important role in taking the science from research & development and delivering medicines to patients around the world. Science to medicine - delivering more medicine to more patients, faster.

In biopharmaceuticals, the world in which Bristol Myers Squibb operates, the rate of change has been incredible. Science has discovered cell therapies, the ultimate personalized medicine, in which a patient's blood is taken, modified through a complex set of operations, and then reintroduced into that same patient. Science has also developed radiopharmaceutical therapeutics (RPT) which require us to build entirely new supply chains designed to manage inventory that decays over 20-days. And science continues to discover Bi and Tri-specific antibodies, antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), protein degraders, the list goes on. Each modality offering unique challenges in manufacturing, technical operations, and supply chain as we work to deliver these medicines to patients around the world.

The world has also become a dynamic place in which to operate a business. Over the last five years we have seen an intensification in external factors impacting supply chains such as the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical disruptions, a shipping accident shutting down the Suez Canal, extreme weather events and more recently, an increased focus on tariffs. All of these dynamics require supply chains to make decisions faster than ever before, and in a world that is so interconnected, the consequences of these decisions must be well understood.

This is the backdrop against which we started our digital journey.  

End-to-end data: Most supply chain professionals recognize the importance of end-to-end enterprise data to power analytics. At Bristol Myers Squibb we have worked hard to ensure our data can power the sophisticated analytics we require. Data is the foundation to all things digital. Ensuring good data end-to-end was only the beginning. We also needed to ensure that the data remained predictable and reliable. This required us to develop disciplined business processes that ensure consistency and integrity in our data. Without reliable data, it is impossible to unlock the full business value of any digital tools. 

Tools not Toys: There is no shortage of digital tools designed to interrogate data for the business outcomes we seek. From analytical tools to AI, automation to robotics, the list of options grows daily. The challenge is staying focused on delivering the right tools for your business and by-passing the shiny toys that can easily distract. This requires a well-developed vision for the future informed by knowing how to deliver value for the enterprise. Did I mention focus? Like you, I get phone calls and e-mails daily from companies promising to unlock value with XYZ tool and it is easy to become infatuated with some of these solutions. Piloting new tools is a helpful means of learning about options, however when it comes to implementation, pragmatic solutions that are fit for purpose leads to superior outcomes.  

People-centric: Clean data and digital tools are absolutely necessary to power supply chains in the dynamic world we operate today. But those enablers only bring value to the business through our people. People who are engaged, educated, and empowered. Today we have five generations in the workforce: Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z. Each has a different work style, learning preference, and digital fluency. We have people who grew up with land line phones and paper maps working alongside those who have never known a world without smart phones and GPS. Each individual brings diverse experiences, backgrounds, skills and expertise to the table and together it creates a powerful force for change. It is imperative that we not only train our workforce, but that we fully engage them in our digital journey. Freeing people from excel and e-mail enables them to apply their intellect to solving problems and overcoming challenges - such as how to manage inventory that degrades in 20 days. Finding the right value proposition for each employee is not always easy, but it has been critical in our journey.

We are still on the road to a 100% digitally enabled supply chain. We have been making very good progress against that goal and, importantly, have learned a great deal along the way. What started as a vision to deliver more medicines to more patients faster - science to medicine - has enriched the organization and fueled an incredible passion for innovation. Data is foundational, tools are important, but it takes people to unlock the value.