Between regulatory and competitive pressures as well as mergers and new consumer demands, the ability to add more agility into the end-to-end management of the factory and the supply chain is becoming increasingly important. But incorporating more connectivity and communication across the supply chain will require that companies invest in new technologies, including the Internet of Things (IoT) and analytics.
Aware of the need for its own digital transformation in order to help its customers, Quality Packaging Specialists International (QPSI), a contract packager for the pharmaceutical and CPG markets, announced a strategic alliance with Supply Chain Wizard, a provider of digital factory and serialization technology and consulting services. Today’s announcement will give QPSI access to a range of digital technologies, including data collection, analysis and reporting and operational process improvement capabilities, all of which they plan to apply to its US-based factory network and its state-of-the-art 375,000+ sq. ft. supply chain excellence center in Florence, NJ.
According to the companies, this alliance will provide sustainable value for QPSI customers through data-driven decision making and overall increased efficiency and productivity.
Primarily serving Fortune 500 companies, QPSI has an even broader vision of bringing distribution competencies to the pharma and consumer goods industries it serves. Partnering with Supply Chain Wizard provides QPSI with IoT technology and its digital factory suite of applications including OEE Tracker, which links operational process improvement to labor costs, Scheduler, software that combines machine learning and analytics to uncover production constraints and work order distribution—and which has the ability to schedule based on different objectives—and Digital Logbook, which digitizes logs to capture line activities within the factory, as well as compliance with good manufacturing practices (GMP) regulations.
The initial focus of the partnership will be on transforming operations to the digital factory, but QPSI plans to expand to leverage Supply Chain Wizard’s broader digital supply chain capabilities. Transforming the way the supply chain works is something the manufacturing industry as a whole is focused on to maintain a competitive edge.
“If you can leverage technology now to improve the supply chain, you will be on the innovation part of the curve,” said Evren Ozkaya, founder and CEO of Supply Chain Wizard in an interview with Automation World last year, referring to the need for companies to comply with track-and-trace mandates. “But if you don’t do anything, you will be left behind because the rate of change is increasing dramatically.”
To help with the digitization of the supply chain, the company has a set of tools that streamline project management and collaboration, Ozkaya said. “We are very excited to partner with QPSI…This partnership has the potential to become a template of industry best practice in value creation and digital transformation.”
