COVER STORY COVID-19 pandemic, port congestions, pollution control boards forcibly shutting the Chinese factories, so on. To make in India in pharma, we need support from the government and local bodies in terms of infrastructure creation so that we get the economy of scale and start competing in the global market. In the early 90s, India was probably importing 30% of its APIs from outside India. That number has gone up to 65-70% today. Over the last two decades, the number has more than doubled. We need to do something to reverse the trend. It's going to be a time-consuming and lengthy process. Over the years series of technological advancements in China have given companies an edge to manufacture specialty chemicals. With that, they have had colossal infrastructure support and benefits provided by the government, which have helped them scale up the
Vinod Mathur, VP – Product Management, Blue Yonder How can India leverage this opportunity to create value and a competitive advantage in the global market by manufacturing for others and being a global factory eventually? Today it isn't easy to differentiate between a physical product and a technology product. Even cars today are more of a computer, which is driving you around as opposed to what it used to be about 10-15 years back. In both these sectors (technology and manufacturing), my experience has been that we usually struggle when it comes to product design. We have many established companies and startups providing services. This competitive advantage has taken us to a certain level. Our capabilities as far as benefits are concerned are very well accepted by the world, now we must bring the same leadership in design
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volume and brought them to economies of scale. Most of the bulk chemicals that we are now importing were getting manufactured in India in the '90s. Over the years, due to better pricing and availability, sourcing has moved to China. Now the Indian government has also realized the crucial importance of the value chain. The government's PLI initiative is undoubtedly a step in the right direction. The pharma and medical device industry have been allocated about US$2 bn over the next five years to encourage entrepreneurs and manufacturers in this space to invest, and the government is willing to support them on this journey. Deglobalization is a reality, and companies and governments need to come to terms with it sooner. De-risking supply chains is a great start to move ahead in this journey of de-globalization.
What is India's potential to take Industry 4.0 further in the pharma landscape?
skills. Working with a product business model takes a lot of risk-taking ability. Our incredible talent is moving out of India and is offering its design prowess to manufacturing companies in other parts of the world. We need to leverage such innovative talent somehow and strengthen our design capabilities. We have numerous product design innovations at the grassroots level, but many of those do not make it to an organized corporation for the scale they deserve. These areas should be our next big challenge that companies must take to ensure an all-encompassing growth and make India a true manufacturing superpower.
GPS which might be hard for a small fleet owner to afford.
How can Blue Yonder play an enabling role in making it possible? We have come up with India-specific offerings because one of the key learnings gained over the span of my professional career is that something that works in the European or North American market may not work the same way in India. We have finetuned and created technology offerings that are more relevant to the Indian ecosystem. Along with our partners, we have also localized tracking mechanisms to suit our Indian customers' needs, such as SIM-based tracking rather than a smartphone-based
Not just India, the entire pharma industry around the globe is somewhat laggard when it comes to adopting Industry 4.0. Because we are a highly regulated market, the controls around continuous manufacturing and batch quality monitoring have been a hindrance. But the scope and potential of advancements in technology have made 4.0 a reality to reckon with. We are already seeing a lot of headway being made in production control technology, R&D, and overall supply chain monitoring, and management. I firmly believe that in the 'controlled,' 'contained,' and 'connected' world that we live in today, industry 4.0 will be a great enabler in ensuring more efficient and cost-effective ways to deliver life-saving drugs to the 7+ billion people around the world.
How are the global supply chains adopting the risk mitigation strategies post-pandemic? Risk mitigation is a strategy that has always existed if we look at the topperforming supply chains globally. These companies always have a plan B in place. The scale of a pandemic that we witnessed, even the plan B, was not enough. Risk mitigation should be a part of systematic planning rather than a one-off exercise. I know of many Indian companies that have a proper risk mitigation plan in place. Blue Yonder helps companies analyze & evaluate the impact of a scenario and develop an alternative plan. Building redundancies into the system is also part of the risk mitigation strategy.
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