Defining Operations Management and the Role of Operations Managers

Kent Pharmaceuticals was established in the year 1986 and it has become a leading generic company in United Kingdom. They are instrumental and offer a huge range of core generics in the field of respiratory, analgesics and that if anti-infectives. The market is evolving at a rapid pace and the products are manufactured keeping in mind the future. Their main challenges revolve around improving the efficiency and provide safety to the patients . The Ready to Dispense (R2D) was launched that was mainly used in walk in centres and prisons. They are one of the leading provider of the overlabelling service within the United Kingdom. They specialize in the arena of providing services that is temperature-controlled, The re-packaging is audited by that of MHRA and NHS. The assembly suite can produce around 500,000 packs within a month. The over labelling can be done automatically that allows a quick turnaround. They have an extensive product range that is GS1 compliant. They are efficient in the arena of stock management and excel in e-procurement . It has become a strong player within the generic industry and it focuses on innovation so that it can expang globally.

Adastra clinical patient management system helped in managing episodes of care in relation to unscheduled meetings like that of out-of-hours service. This system helps in monitoring within real time any kind of drug that is issued by the clinician for his patient. The relevant details of the consultation are transmitted through electronic mode to the ‘in-hours’ practitioner system before 9 the next morning. The products of Kent that were supposed to be used in out- of- hour service was re-labelled that helped in indicating that they belonged to the service of Kent Pharmaceuticals. In order to do this re-labelling it requires a new Global Trade Item Number for each product. The numbers are allocated by making use of GS 1 Prefix. The relabeling was done by taking recourse to GS1 Matrix and had the following marked on secondary packaging:

• Global Trade Item Number
• Serial number
• Batch Number
• Expiry date

The Melior system helps in scanning and verifying the printed code so that it provides unique service. The information that is contained within the GS 1 Data Matrix is uploaded with the help of simple software tool within an external data repository. The data repository makes use of secure web service connection that is used by Adastra for verifying the packs.

In United Kingdom, the out-of-hours patients could not always get the medication that they needed in times of consultation. The patients had to depend on few medicines that was being carried by the general practitioner. They had to wait till the opening of the pharmacy in order to receive full medication. Kent Pharmaceuticals provides out-of-hour doctor services and their performance objective is to ensure a safer medicine management solution .

Understanding the Systemic Perspective of Operations

The meticulous care undertaken during the re-labelling process with the help of the Melior system that verifies the printed code helps in ensuring that the information that has been provided can be relied upon by the customers.

Reduce the dispensing errors by matching the product that has been prescribed and dispensed by taking recourse to standard identification.

Alloga UK is instrumental in providing supply chain solutions to the health care industry of UK and offers specialist storage and distribution services for the pharmaceutical business. Kent Pharmaceuticals takes the extensive help of Alloga UK that is approved by MHRA and compliant with GDP . They help Kent Pharmaceuticals by providing opportunities for multi-temperature storage and customer service solutions. It also provides IT service solutions and clinical trial to assist in the effective functioning of Kent Pharmaceuticals.

In the year 2013, Kent Pharmaceuticals was acquired by that of DCC Vital who is a pioneer in the distribution of pharmaceuticals within Britain and that of Ireland. Kent has benefitted to a great extent on account of the huge resources that is provided by DCC Vital . Strong links with that of other companies within the group like Fannin, Williams Medical has greatly benefitted Kent pharmaceuticals. They have helped in providing sales channel to Kent Pharmaceuticals and have helped them to sell in the hospital and that of retail pharmacy.

Human Resources along with Compliance share a goal that is common in relation to monitoring the employee compliance. Before the compliance department came into being, the Human Resources used to handle the complaints and issues of the employees. Frequent communication between that of HR and the Compliance Department can help in solving the major problems related to operations of the Kent Pharmaceuticals. The HR Manager of Kent Pharmaceuticals is sensitive regarding compliance concern and they work with the Compliance in order to determine the process of follow-up. Training given to the human resources department of Kent Pharmaceuticals helps in improving the quality of work within the organisation. Standardized job descriptions help in the smooth functioning of the operations of Kent Pharmaceuticals. They help in developing the compliance training program. A robust training completion monitoring program is carried out within Kent Pharmaceuticals that helps in the fluid working of the organization . The disciplinary factors are fair and equitable within the organization. HR, Compliance along with the Legal collaborate when the disciplinary actions of the company are being developed.

Elements of a Transformation System and Applying the Transformation Model

Legislative changes along with economic turmoil have increased competition within the pharmaceutical industry. The sales reps in relation to pharmaceutical industry has highlighted that in an earlier era the distribution of free samples was considered to be an important means of marketing. The clients were often treated with paid trips and meals in order to increase the sales of the company. Kent Pharmaceuticals have taken recourse to cost effective ways in order to convince the physicians about value of the items. Technology has played a big role for the increasing sales of Kent Pharmaceuticals. The mobile sales platform allow the facility of smooth interaction with that of the physicians has helped Kent Pharmaceuticals in the arena of sales and marketing . Interactive approach by taking recourse to social media forms of e-detailing has helped in the marketing of Kent Pharmaceuticals.

The marketing strategy of Kent Pharmaceuticals focuses on a two-dimensional approach. The key message should be repeated and the message should be able to reach a wider audience. Technologies like email and online searches help in reaching a large number of people. Multimedia presentation software also helps the Kent Pharmaceuticals to reach a large audience on frequent basis . It helps in building credibility in the relationships that proves to be a crucial factor for their success in the field of marketing. Kent Pharmaceuticals makes use of data mining in order to understand the thought leadership of physicians.

Information is very valuable and it helps the marketers to gather and store information about the prospective buyers. Adaptive learning analytics capability has been embedded in the marketer-sponsored software of Kent Pharmaceuticals that helps the company to learn from the audience. It can help in moulding the message and media so that it can reach a particular audience. Analytics tools within the proprietary mobile app of Kent Pharmaceuticals can help the marketers in understanding what the consumers prefer and it can test different kinds of on-screen marketing scenario that greatly benefits the business of Kent Pharmaceuticals .

Financial pressures will greatly dominate the pharmaceutical industry in United Kingdom. The major challenge in the developing countries is in relation to making the drugs available for the poor people. Kent Pharmaceuticals will face problem as the government is cash-strapped and it will become hard for the health care providers to convince the market about their products. The economic turmoil prevailing in United Kingdom will put a great amount of financial pressure on the payer community . The quality of the services and medicines that is delivered by a pharmaceutical company cannot be sacrificed as this involves the life of a balance. A delicate balance has thus to be maintained between that of the price of the medicines and the quality of it . The biotechnology industry is facing a stiff challenge on account of innovation and competition. A large number of new entrants has entered the pharmaceutical industry in United Kingdom and this poses challenge for Kent Pharmaceuticals. This has resulted in a competitive business environment that has caused pressure on Kent Pharmaceuticals. Need for satisfying people of different mindsets along with cultural demands create hindrance for Kent Pharmaceuticals. It gives rise to internal organizational pressure that obstructs the adoption of the new technologies. It creates barriers in the arena of development of new products.

Efficiency and Safety in Pharmaceuticals – Challenges Faced by Kent Pharmaceuticals

Consumers want more personalized and high-tech care that will be convenient for them. They want direct contact with the providers and the health care companies have to increase their speed against that of the strict regulatory requirement . The regulations have an impact on the technological change and cost is another factor that is a challenge for Kent Pharmaceuticals. The development of drugs needs a huge amount of time along with money. Kent pharmaceuticals have to deliver with the help of their limited R and D budget.

The pharmaceutical companies have started to use collaborative platforms and a fully integrated pharmaceutical network can help Kent Pharmaceutical in battling the challenges. It can then effectively take the help of a lot of resources in order to succeed. Teaming up with the other organisations can help in creating virtual R and D programs that can help in reducing the costs . It can help in managing risks more effectively and can reduce the costs. Common usage of IT systems along with technologies can help in the effective management of the supply chain problems. Collaboration software can help in increasing transparency within the organization and it helps in monitoring each level of the implementation of a project. The electronic pharmaceutical master control system can help in revising the documents within time and it can even be made use of by users across that of multiple departments . It helps in the approval of the document task and reduce the time in relation to project meeting. It provides a centralized repository that is necessary for important documentation and this system can help in approving documents. Master control can help in the connection of the entire enterprise and helps in the efficient management of the project team.

Total Quality Management refers to an approach that can help in improving the quality and performance of the employees in an organization. It can help in the process of meeting or exceeding the customer expectation. It helps in looking at the measures that are implemented by the company for quality control and quality assurance of the services of an organization. Kent Pharmaceuticals will make use of the Total Management System in order to improve the performance of the employees and augment the growth of the organisation. The pharmaceutical master control document software system can help in accelerating the processes that can help to bring a new product within the market . Most of the companies in the modern age store their information within their electronic systems and the master control system can help in submitting change orders for the purpose of review. It also assists in the process of providing all the associated documents that can instigate the process of change. Internal procedures that are called standard operating procedure can help in controlling chaos within an organization . The master control system can help in streamlining the entire process of change control so that it can help in risk assessment. The reporting capabilities of master control can help in providing real-time status in relation to all kinds of change control tasks. It ensures in the process of documentation integrity that can help the employees to have at their disposal the latest updated document.

References:

Bromiley, P. and Rau, D., 2016. Operations management and the resource based view: Another view. Journal of Operations Management, 41, pp.95-106.

Chavez, R., Yu, W., Gimenez, C., Fynes, B. and Wiengarten, F., 2015. Customer integration and operational performance: The mediating role of information quality. Decision Support Systems, 80, pp.83-95.

DiMase, D., Collier, Z.A., Carlson, J., Gray, R.B. and Linkov, I., 2016. Traceability and risk analysis strategies for addressing counterfeit electronics in supply chains for complex systems. Risk Analysis, 36(10), pp.1834-1843.

Hansen, K.R.N. and Grunow, M., 2015. Planning operations before market launch for balancing time-to-market and risks in pharmaceutical supply chains. International Journal of Production Economics, 161, pp.129-139.

Hitt, M.A., Carnes, C.M. and Xu, K., 2016. A current view of resource based theory in operations management: A response to Bromiley and Rau. Journal of Operations Management, 41(10), pp.107-109.

Kentpharm.co.uk (2018). home. [online] Kent Pharmaceuticals. Available at: https://www.kentpharm.co.uk/ [Accessed 11 Jan. 2018].

Lun, Y.V., Shang, K.C., Lai, K.H. and Cheng, T.C.E., 2016. Examining the influence of organizational capability in innovative business operations and the mediation of profitability on customer satisfaction: An application in intermodal transport operators in Taiwan. International Journal of Production Economics, 171, pp.179-188.

Malhotra, M.K., Singhal, C., Shang, G. and Ployhart, R.E., 2014. A critical evaluation of alternative methods and paradigms for conducting mediation analysis in operations management research. Journal of Operations Management, 32(4), pp.127-137.

Mehralian, G., Zarenezhad, F. and Rajabzadeh Ghatari, A., 2015. Developing a model for an agile supply chain in pharmaceutical industry. International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing, 9(1), pp.74-91.

Sana, S.S. and Panda, S., 2015. Optimal sales team’s initiatives and pricing of pharmaceutical products. International Journal of Systems Science: Operations & Logistics, 2(3), pp.168-176.

Slack, N., 2015. Operations strategy. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Smith, L., Maull, R. and CL Ng, I., 2014. Servitization and operations management: a service dominant-logic approach. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 34(2), pp.242-269.

Stevenson, W.J. and Sum, C.C., 2015. Operations management. New York: McGraw-Hill Education.

Wagner, S.M., Ullrich, K.K. and Transchel, S., 2014. The game plan for aligning the organization. Business Horizons, 57(2), pp.189-201.