Business and Inventory ChallengesWhether in manufacturing, distribution or retailing, companies in the health care and pharmaceutical sectors are expected, or may even be required, to deliver very high customer service levels, even for slow moving products. And as the number of ethical (both generics and under patent) and OTC products proliferates, a huge quantity of inventory can build for all members of the supply chain.

A major challenge is balancing these service level demands with the impact on working capital. Product obsolescence can also be a problem, particularly for products with expiration constraints measured in months or even days. Combining seasonal behavior and sell-by-dates makes inventory planning even more challenging.

Finally, fixed lot sizes dictated by production batch constraints can cause lengthy replenishment cycles of up to 3-4 months.

ToolsGroup's Unique Capabilities

In this environment, ToolsGroup has the ability to deliver stable, reliable and very high service levels, despite increasing pressure from product proliferation. In addition, we deliver improved short-term forecast accuracy, which is critical to achieving very high levels of service. ToolsGroup customers in this industry are obtaining record service levels.

ToolsGroup solutions also address many of the specific needs of healthcare/pharmaceutical companies such as handling:

• Product expiration constraints
• Seasonal behavior
• Continuous Replenishment Planning (CRP)
• Complex multi-echelon network and distribution models

Successes

ToolsGroup has successfully deployed at more than 10 healthcare/pharmaceutical customers, such as:

• Covidien
• Farma Lepori
• FARPAS
• And many others

For a complete list of customers and our unique capabilities for the healthcare/ pharmaceutical industry, please contact the ToolsGroup office nearest you.