A new program at DCAT Week 2024, Best Practices Platform: Industry Case Studies, will provide innovative approaches on how customers and suppliers are bringing supply management to the next level. Topics of interest include strategies in supplier risk management, ways to improve time to market, and other innovative approaches in sourcing and supply management. DCAT Member Companies can apply to present a case study. Applications close November 30, and presentations are due February 2024.

Innovation in supply management
When we speak of “innovation” in the bio/pharma industry, it usually and rightfully so, refers to the products—the new medicines that companies develop, produce, and market. While product development and commercialization are the impetus behind innovation in the bio/pharma industry, “innovation” can also refer to the processes and ways in which those products are supplied and the important interface between bio/pharma companies and their suppliers. The ways in which bio/pharmaceutical companies and suppliers work together across the entire bio/pharmaceutical manufacturing value chain—from raw materials to active pharmaceutical ingredients (small molecules and biologics) to drug products to packaging and the related supply chain—are critical to the ultimate goal of the industry: get medicines to those that need them.

Always of great importance, supply management took on even greater importance in the pandemic and in the post-pandemic environment when all industries faced supply-chain challenges and were confronted with the need to not only address short-term issues but how to make supply management more robust, responsive, and secure in the future. For the bio/pharma industry, this also meant addressing the everyday issues arising in bio/pharmaceutical development, manufacturing, and the related supply chain—time to market, greater supply-chain complexity, increased globalization, and broader macroeconomic and geopolitical change.

New program at DCAT Week 2024
For these reasons, the Drug, Chemical & Associated Technologies Association (DCAT) is launching a new education program, Best Practices Platform: Industry Case Studies, at its flagship event, DCAT Week (March 18-21, 2024), to provide DCAT Member Companies the opportunity to share with a high-profile audience of senior to mid-level executives new and innovative  approaches taken in supply management and ways that customers and suppliers are working to optimize sourcing and supply management overall and/or in specific segments across the bio/pharmaceutical manufacturing value chain.

Examples of topics of interest are, but not limited to:

• The de-risking of raw material supply.
• Approaches in supplier risk management, including decision criteria/methodology used in risk assessment (financial, business, supply assurance) and risk mitigation.
• Approaches to improve speed/time to market.
• Artificial intelligence or other new technology that is being used in supply management, including sourcing.
• Ways to improve supply-chain visibility.
• Other innovative approaches in supply management that your company would like to share.

The 90-minute program will consist of three to four presentations, each approximately 15 minutes with a 5-minute audience question and answer period following each presentation. Presenters should be from senior management or operations. The program will be held during DCAT Week on Tuesday, March 19, 2024. The exact time and location will be determined at a later date.

Applications are due November 30, 2023, and presentations will be due in February 2024. Companies selected to present will be notified no later than December 6, 2023.

Applicants selected to present will be chosen from a task force of industry colleagues selected from DCAT volunteer committees, who will evaluate all applications and select three to four companies to present based on the most useful, valuable, and innovative insight for a mid- to senior-level audience involved in sourcing, procurement, and supply management. Only presentations with practical insight will be considered; promotional content will not be accepted.

Further information, including the online application, may be found here.