以個案研究探討製藥產業之供應鏈管理

Abstract

摘要內容： 製藥產業為一高度全球化的產業，產品行銷全世界，高度標準化且受專利長期保護，研發費用大、時間長、風險高，跨入門檻極高，整個供應鏈更是高度的全球化與垂直整合。近年來，供應鏈的管理已廣泛地應用於許多產業，但較少有關製藥產業之相關文獻，本研究將是國內首次藉由個案研究的方式，來探討供應鏈管理於製藥產業的應用，以進一步了製藥產業如何應用供應鏈管理來提升競爭力，以作為其他產業的借鏡。 製藥產業中的大公司都是全球化且高度垂直整合的，從研發、主成分的合成、製造、包裝到行銷，完全垂直整合於公司內。1950年到1990年間是製藥產業的黃金時期，有著專利的保護，製藥公司獨占或寡占藥品市場，享有豐厚的利潤和高度的進入障礙，在這時期各國的關稅與保護政策是全球化的障礙，製藥公司為降低關稅障礙於是到處設立工廠，造成設備利用率低的問題。除此之外，在供應鏈上的問題尚有需求預測不準確、庫存高、運送成本高、資訊不足且不及時等，然而，供應鏈中這些導致高成本的問題當時被豐厚的利潤所淹蓋，完全不被重視。到了1990年後，產業環境的變遷，全球化貿易取代了保護政策，新藥快速開發取代壟斷的優勢，健保制度的興起，俗名藥的競爭等等，使得製藥產業享有豐厚利潤的黃金年代不復存在。一旦利潤下降，這些供應鏈管理的問題則一一暴露出來，各個製藥公司不得不積極尋求因應之道。本文研究之個案公司是一個典型的世界級製藥公司，上述製藥產業中所具有的特性、問題和現象也都發生在個案公司中。 研究結果顯示，個案公司之解決對策有：導入 Site Management Project (SMP)，將全球的生產據點統一規劃，保留生產成本較具競爭力的工廠，關閉生產成本不具競爭力的工廠。在澳洲設立全自動包裝中心，以延遲的作業模式，有效地降低成品的庫存。導入月規劃流程，以提高需求預測的準確度。導入全球供應鏈系統(GSC)，以相同的作業平台，更新需求、銷售狀況和實際庫存，然後由GSC自動進行補貨規劃(Replenishment Planning)，有效地降低因應資訊不確定性所需的安全庫存。導入供應商管理庫存(VMI)的作業模式，供應商在獲得充分的資訊之下，有效地為顧客管理庫存，提高顧客的滿意度，改善與顧客間的關係。在合競(Co-opetition)的策略上，以合併方式，併購其他製藥公司，以快速增加自己的研發能力、產品線、強化成藥(OTC)的通路和達到經濟規模。個案公司在供應鏈管理上的改革，確實有效地降低了庫存和售貨成本，同時也增加了整個集團的競爭力。藉由個案我們可以了解這些做法確實可以提升製藥產業的競爭力，亦可作為其他產業的借鏡。

ABSTRACT: Pharmaceutical is a highly globalized industry; the products are sold around the world. The expense of R&D as well as the entry barrier is quite high. The global supply chain in this industry usually is vertically integrated. In the present, Supply Chain Management (SCM) has been applied in a lot of industries, but little literature can be found on SCM in pharmaceutical industry. This is the first study on SCM in pharmaceutical industry in Taiwan. The purpose of this study is to study how SCM applied in pharmaceutical industry using a case study approach. Big pharmaceutical companies are globalized and highly vertically integrated. They integrate R&D, synthesis of active ingredients, manufacture and package products and sales. The period of years from 1950 to 1990 is the Golden Era of Pharmaceutical Industry. They enjoyed great power in medicine market with the protection of patent. They got the great profit margin and high entry barrier. The tariff duty was a barrier of global trading at that period. So they built a lot of under-utilized facilities in different countries. In addition to idle capacity, there were many other problems in the supply chain of pharmaceutical companies. However, those problems were ignored due to high profit margin at that Era. After 1990, the industry environment changed a lot. Owing to increasing R&D expenses, health insurance system, competition of new drugs and generic drugs, the Era of high profit margin is gone. Pharmaceutical companies then must come out solutions for those supply chain problems in order to survive. The case company is a typical world-class pharmaceutical company, and also faced such problems in the late 1990s. Base on this study, the case company applied various initiatives to improve its SCM. The company implemented Sites Management Project, SMP, to redesign the whole global supply chain. They identified the most cost-effective sites and rearranged those sties as global manufacturing centers and shut down those sites which were non-cost-effective. They set up a packaging center in Australia and conduct postponement operation for small markets to reduce the inventory of finished goods and improve the efficiency of big manufacturing center. They implemented a computer system of Global Supply Chain to collect daily information of sales, inventory and forecast and to run Replenishment Planning daily. GSC system reduced the safe stock effectively. The company also implemented the operation of Vendor Managed Inventory, VMI. In addition, they merged the other companies to upgrade their R&D capability and expand their product pipeline. Results also show that the case company had successfully reduced their inventory level, and upgrade the competitive advantage. The success of the case company not only represents good practice in SCM of pharmaceutical industry, but may also provide good lessons or inspirations to companies in other industries.