Webinar – Utilizing Next Gen Planning To Optimize Inventory & Improve Profitability

Otsuka Pharmaceuticals Europe – a case study in advanced planning and enhanced profitability

In Jan 2021, OPEL embarked on an extraordinary transformation of their planning processes. They wanted to leverage state-of-the-art supply and demand planning technologies for creating a digital twin platform.

At the start of the project, they had a cumbersome data management process with little integration between disparate systems including their legacy ERP system. As a result, this provided limited visibility of the materials and manufacturing process to finish goods. Poor accuracy and a strategy to hold additional inventory to buffer against supply risk, invariably resulted in stock obsolescence and additional inventory holding costs. OPEL wanted to adopt best practices in the supply chain planning process to optimize the cost of ownership and improve customer satisfaction.

The business plan was based on a powerful 24 month ROI by reducing wastage, carrying less inventory and a modest reduction in product write-off.

This session will focus on how OPEL are significantly improving their planning processes for bulk material and finished products.

By implementing advanced planning capabilities, they will create a uniform company-wide platform for cross functional collaboration resulting in improved data sharing and enhanced collaboration, as well as significantly reducing write-offs by approximately 20%.

About Otsuka Pharmaceuticals Europe

Otsuka Pharmaceutical was established in 1964 and is part of the Otsuka Holdings, a company dating back 100 years. Otsuka Pharmaceutical is headquartered in Tokyo with regional offices in Europe and the US. With around 6,000 employees and 8 manufacturing plants in Japan, it has a unique presence in the market, with complex supply chain and manufacturing challenges. Otsuka Pharmaceutical Europe Ltd. (OPEL), established in 1979, is the European operation of the global healthcare company Otsuka Pharmaceuticals.

The packaging of products for European markets, happens wholly within Europe through the use of 3rd party partners, with bulk and API being imported from Otsuka’s internal manufacturing sites in the Far East.

Historically, despite the business’ success, its utilization of business process support software saw a slower uptake in comparison to other companies within the sector.