When it comes to the medical devices supply chain, it can often seem to be made up of a series of isolated steps from product development through to the patient or healthcare provider. Labeling digitalization across the supply chain therefore, can help build a more integrated, fully transparent supply chain for all involved in the process. As a result, this can help organizations move beyond compliance, to drive wider company improvement.
Consistency is key
From product development, right through to customer fulfilment, labeling is an essential element to ensuring the process runs completely smoothly. The supply chains of Life Sciences are highly complex, made up of multiple tiers of suppliers and wholesalers. Therefore, in order to optimize the elements of the labeling content associated with medical device products – labeling that’s associated with a product or attached to the product, the packaging materials or the bulk of the shipper cases – a single source is key to ensuring all parties involved can access the most up to date content files. A consistent, single source of content that can be used from submissions through to design and production across the supply chain is the most important element. This ensures that all individuals in an organization are sure they are using the most up to date, approved version of content.
What challenges face digitalising the supply chain?
Accessing the original source of content that was used to compile a larger, often undigitalized PDF, email or printed format, document is one of the biggest challenges facing the medical devices industry. Finding multiple instances of the same content across different factories and facilities can make it difficult for specific phrases, statement or symbols to be reconstructed or reused when needed and also compromise compliance. Therefore, ensuring your labeling and artwork processes are consistent and interoperable is key. This can be achieved by carrying out the following:
- Ensuring all source label content is in a digitalized format and held in a master file
- Allowing all appropriate parties to access, edit, modify and review this master file
Following these steps will allow your organization to create a fully transparent supply chain, which will also allow for collaboration between more specialist partners and providers.
