Why your #pharma #serialisation RFI should not be like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates – full of surprises!

As Forrest Gump’s Momma could have said, “An RFI is like box of chocolates you never know what’s inside.”

Photo courtesy of Loren Javier

Now that the EU-FMD clock has started ticking, pharma companies are compelled to take action. The first step for those in the pharma industry is often to generate a RFI for their serialization/traceability system. This is completely understandable when faced with the need to create a new and unfamiliar business process that requires – at multiple levels – different and untried technology.

What this leads to is typically an – inevitably – high level RFI that seeks a total one-stop-shop solution to serialisation. This is sent to a selection of the bewildering – and growing – array of solution providers. These solution providers then respond as best they can. The better amongst them highlight the limitations of their offer or deliver composite responses incorporating the solutions of other companies that are necessary to complement their own partial solutions. An honest approach, even if it puts them at the risk of complicating the response and potentially losing the job. Others boldly pitch for the whole scope, believing, or in some cases hoping, that they can deliver what is required, often banking on as yet incomplete product development.

Unpacking the responses of these exercises is challenging for the customer who is often struggling with limited knowledge, limited time, and more often than not the lack of a clear strategy.

What is the alternative to putting out a RFI and getting a partial solution in return?

It is well known that time spent on reconnaissance is seldom wasted, especially when dealing with something new.

And there is, indeed, no need to find your own way through this jungle. We are an expert team of specialists who can help you take your first steps through a focused training workshop‎, a defined serialization strategy, and a clear way forward to completion in time and on cost.

Photo courtesy of Jason Ternus

As well as making sure you become an informed customer within the pharma industry, we can help you streamline the overall process enabling you to approach the market in a focused way with a clear definition of what your business really needs. And, as importantly, if not more so, this approach will also define the scope you can’t buy, the scope “beyond the technology stack” that you need to deliver in parallel: A whole lot of essential, internal activity needed to build the base of your programme and keep you compliant.

Start your journey with 3C Excellis Europe and use our subject matter expertise to help you streamline your serialisation‎ efforts and make your RFI count! We are proud to be vendor independent, it means we can always put your business interest first. Email events@excellishealth.eu and find out how we can make your RFI count.

If you do decide to go down the box of chocolates RFI route – be very careful – it might only be later, when you come to bite into your chocolates, you discover that they may contain nuts!

Photo courtesy of Anders Sandberg