By Magdalena Mielcarek
In order to meet diverse consumer needs, producers are trying to offer a whole range of product forms: from solid forms such as tablets or capsules, to liquid products which are especially adjusted to the special needs of the pediatric and geriatric groups. Ensuring the multitude of forms and shapes of products is usually connected with the business’s need to consider the option of outsourcing the manufacture of a given delivery form.
What aspects need attention when choosing the supplier? Apart from evaluating the future contract manufacturer—i.e. checking whether it has proper facilities and resources, up to date quality certificates and auditing—it is also important to check other less formal and often forgotten aspects, such as the quality of contact with the future outsourcer. A proper quality of contact with the future contract manufacturer at the very beginning of cooperation might lead to quality business relations based on mutual trust in the future. Apart from formal requirements for reliable assessment of the future supplier, is it also important to look into other features of the future outsourcer. Open communication, orientation towards understanding the needs of the customer and problem-solving skills might be another argument for choosing a given service provider from among others. Reaching common goals and building long-term relations with the outsourcer who becomes a business partner, not only a service provider, might be decisive for the success of our decision to outsource.
When deciding to choose a specific outsourcer, it is also worth checking whether apart from a good service, the future partner is able to deliver something more than the agreed standard. Apart from doing its task, can the service provider ensure certain added value, e.g. an extra regulatory, consulting, training service? As well as carrying out the development of a product, can I expect the contract manufacturer to engage in additional activities such as e.g. preparing a registration dossier and carrying out the registration process of the new product? By starting cooperation with other service providers, the contract manufacturer limits the costs and time necessary to complete ever more complex projects. Deciding to outsource some activities, it can be flexible so that it can keep the timeframe of projects, especially in a situation where several complex projects need to be completed at the same time. Using the services of consultants in pharmaceutical and foods law, it also expands and updates its own specialist knowledge which it can then use to complete other complex projects. Finally, thanks to outsourcing, the contract manufacturer can focus on its key operations, i.e. manufacturing products of a proper quality and supplying them to the customer on time.
