LogiPharma Europe 2025: Reevaluating One’s CGT Value Chain

LogiPharma Europe continued its star-studded lineup featuring Big Pharma, with a morning keynote case study on “Rethinking Your C&GT Value Chain: How to Ensure Readiness for Evolving Specialized Therapy Requirements.”

Led by Graham White, BMS’ executive director of global delivery for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), he sought out to explain why an overhaul of one’s supply chain strategy could be necessary in order meet the demands of these modalities; the top tech assisting this transformation; strategies for the execution of manufacturing and supply chain networks to support these therapies; and more.

When it comes to the supply chain, BMS’ North Star revolves around wanting to become the best supply chain that is capable of bringing more products and medicines to patients faster. This would involve minimal friction, with an efficient and agile approach that offers a “continuous improvement mindset.”

Part of that vision is a powered by what White refers to as “digital and process excellence,” which can help solve outdated processes. He provided an honest reflection of how efforts started out.

“We found that we were using manual Excel files for planning, and our master data wasn't very good,” White said. “We had complex processes. We had multiple systems of record. The signals that we were getting from both the demand side of things and supply wasn't always accurate or wasn't reliable. We also had a lack of roles and responsibilities, and we then started to look at techniques that we could use to look at our supply chain.“We looked at the likes of Six Sigma. We looked at our business process designs, where they fit for purpose. Were they too complex? We looked at our change management. We did a lot of value stream mapping as well. From start to finish, we didn't have really a good view on what our entire supply chain looked like. And if we did, it tended to be more within people's heads, as opposed to be totally documented.”

He also dove into Polaris, which doesn’t represent a project, but a journey to holistically transform the company’s value chain.

“Polaris will be the new way of thinking within BMS. Essentially, what we had said was that we wanted to have synchronized systems. We wanted to make sure we had end-to-end visibility from a supply chain perspective. We wanted that predicted and automated control across the network and our master data. We wanted to make sure that was clear, precise, and that was usable within all of our European systems.”

Reference

White G. Rethinking Your C&GT Value Chain: How to Ensure Readiness for Evolving Specialized Therapy Requirements. April 9, 2025. LogiPharma Europe 2025. Lyon.