Advice You - Business

While a strong inventory -- both deep and broad -- can certainly be a competitive advantage, smart business executives are careful to limit the amount of capital they're willing to c

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

ommit to this critical asset. No company, not IBM, not Wal-Mart, not Home Depot, and certainly not your company has enough capital to ignore inventory levels.

Inventory and accounts

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

receivable account for approximately 80% of total assets in most businesses and 100% of manageable assets, so getting a handle on both will provide any business with much needed capi

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

tal to grow.

In this article I want to share with you several inventory management ideas that will help you optimize inventory turnover and minimize out-of-stocks:

• Establish clea

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

-cut goals for buyers; make sure buyers understand how their jobs are measured. Inventory turns by category, gross margin, and out-of-stocks (or incidences of backorders) are good pl

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

aces to start keeping score.

• Conduct regular cycle counts -- at least monthly. Establish a counting calendar that specifies the days of the month to count specific products. Adjus

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

quantities in your computer system as discrepancies are uncovered; this procedure will prevent big surprises at year end. Conducting cycle counts on schedule should be a condition o

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

f employment for whoever is in charge of this critical task.

• Discuss with your software vendor the effect on inventory counts when processing inventory receipts on sku's that are

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

howing negative quantities. Ask your software vendor for advice on procedures to avoid compounding problems.

• Make sure that your inventory receiver is not just whoever happens to

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

be available at the time a new shipment arrives. Assign accountability to one or more specific individuals to receive inventory.

Then train them.

Then inspect what you expect.

Ass

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

me that suppliers never ship too much. It's not that you don't trust your suppliers, it's just a good business practice to compare actual quantities received against the quantity you

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

ordered.

• Adopt a policy that calls for the drivers of incoming delivery vehicles to drop off their shipping papers at the office or at the guard gate before proceeding to the yard

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

or warehouse. Instruct receiving personnel to use the purchase order as the receiving document.

If you implement this idea, instruct your forms supplier to "black out" the quantiti

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

s on the receiving copy of the "PO" so receiving personnel will not be tempted to assume accuracy.

• Instruct buyers to walk the yard and warehouse on a daily basis to gain firsthan

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

d insight into inventory levels, product quality and the way specific sku's are being stacked or stored.

• Educate employees involved with inventory management as to the dollars and

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

cents effect inventory accuracy has on the company's profitability.

• Clearly label stacks, racks, and bins to reduce mistakes, especially by seasonal or part-time employees.

• Doc

ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

ument all inventory procedures.

• Each month, assign someone who is attentive to detail to carefully scrutinize all computerized inventory reports.

• Spot check the accuracy of ann

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products

al physical inventory counts.

• Periodically inspect what you expect from personnel assigned to all inventory-related tasks.

Inventory control requires periodic review so the perso

.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

nnel on the front lines won't develop bad habits. Take the above list of recommended inventory procedures and spot check how well your people are following the rules you have establi

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

hed. If you have some aspects of inventory control in your company that are not documented, assign a responsible employee who is good at designing systems to create the documentation

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

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Anyone who knows about Economic Development Associations realizes that they are forever trying to put a good spin on things. For instance if their city is the number one city for car thieves, they will find some other statistic to plug. Such as our city suburbs have the lowest murder rate of any city in the state. In fact sometimes it is what they don't tell you which is actually very telling.

Conducting an effective interview that brings forward all pertinent information is beneficial not only for the interviewer but also for the applicant.

After you have written a press release and get it published, it is time to start over with a fresh one, right? Not so fast. You can recycle your press releases and still get very valuable free publicity.

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