Background

There are significant challenges facing the pharma industry today, many of which apply to business in general, but some are specific to the industry – where compliance, error-reduction and efficiencies can save lives. All challenges provide opportunities: increased automation can reduce errors and contribute to a faster release process, and better data flow – and access to industry supply chain data – can enable risk level assessment and give a better understanding of the complete operation. Most of these challenges can be solved by better, simpler and more robust integrations. When data flows freely from one system to another it frees suppliers and users from proprietary hardware, reduces errors and speeds up the release process. Good integration also facilitates the collection of clean, consistent data and metadata, leading to actionable insights. 

Challenge

As part of the Brexit preparations, GSK needed to set up a distribution hub outside of the UK and chose a to outsource a part of its operation to DHL in Ireland. Already in 2013, GSK integrated TSS Cloud-based technology-agnostic system designed for aggregating and managing data from multiple loggers, into their ERP system Xpress. The new business setup, however, would require DHL to operate in different systems, with the consequence of large operational inefficiencies. At the same time, GSK was at risk of losing visibility gained through important meta data that had been the foundation of important cost saving initiatives, such as saving 6 MUSD per year on optimizing packing solutions based on insights generated in TSS Cloud. 

Solution

TSS uses a third-party gateway that allows to support both old and new integration technologies at any scale. It is a flexible solution, letting us integrate virtually any system into a larger whole, even public commercially available data such as global address/location, weather forecasts, historical weather, and cell tower locations. Working with very tight deadlines, in 2018, GSK was able to integrate DHL into their TSS-supported ERP on time allowing users to access information from TSS Cloud embedded directly in the DHL system.

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Outcome

The TSS – Xpress integration proved pivotal to GSK’s Brexit adaptation strategy. This quick and efficient new partner integration is a sterling example of how digitalization, made possible by the technology-agnostic TSS platform facilitates process adaptation and the free flow of data.

Most importantly, the TSS integration helped GSK to automate the launch process and improve the accessibility of their data and their inspection performance by supporting secure data uploads which mitigated the risk for human errors. In all, TSS system has been a benefit in many ways to GSK. It supports lean processes, optimal supply chain management, greater regulatory compliance, and actionable insights backed by powerful analytics.

Technology, if intelligently applied, does not just save time and money – it can also save lives.