The role of healthcare product manufacturers and suppliers is crucial. Lives depend on the consistency and reliability of pharmaceuticals, investigational medicine products (IMPs) and medical devices.
No one wants catastrophic supply disruptions that cost precious time and money and hurt your brand. Mitigate risk to your manufacturing and supply chain channels by having backup suppliers for every tier of production — including your labels and packaging.
A Single Point of Pain in the Supply Chain
Labels, inserts, cartons and other packaging components play a pivotal role in ensuring the integrity, safety and efficacy of healthcare products used by physicians and patients. Labels carry crucial information such as dosage instructions, expiration dates and safety warnings. Packaging such as shrink sleeves and cartons protect contents from contamination, damage or degradation.
Relying on a single outsourcing partner for labels and packaging can have a cascading effect on your entire production. Like any manufacturer, every label and packaging vendor is vulnerable to potential disruptions or delays, including:
- Critical production systems failing at facilities, threatening delivery reliability
- Natural disasters and deadly weather events such as earthquakes, storms and floods damaging plants or supply routes
- Failure to adhere to regulatory bodies’ stringent compliance requirements on medical products, including labeling and packaging standards
- Market demand fluctuations
- Military or political situations that affect the supply chain
- Pandemics impacting operational capacity due to lockdowns, as well as travel restrictions
- Supplier inability to receive raw materials on schedule
- Suppliers prioritizing other customers
The safest bet is to establish risk mitigation plans that prioritize supplier diversification and disrupt marketing material fulfillment.
Remove Supply Chain Uncertainty with a Backup Supplier
The partnership between medical product manufacturers and backup label and packaging suppliers should be built on flexibility, reliability and preparedness. A backup supplier can step in to safeguard delivery schedules and ensure a continuous supply of healthcare products, so patients receive needed care.
Consider procuring a backup supplier for these label and packaging projects:
- Containers
- Caps
- Secondary packaging
- Product labels
- Product inserts
- Folding cartons
Resilient supply chains for healthcare products are more important than ever. Technological advancements, global tensions and climate change impacts pose new challenges every day. Manufacturers who prioritize backup suppliers for labels and packaging are not only protecting their operations but also contributing to the stability and reliability of healthcare systems worldwide.
How can you improve your supply chain resiliency? Find a healthcare label partner that is ready with raw materials, processes and a primed team with a deep understanding of supply chain management.
