Improve supply chain efficiency through a web-based system: A case study on a pharmaceutical company in Thailand

The supply chain operations in pharmaceutical industry are one of the most complex operations to manage. To efficiently manage the supply chain in this industry, information technology (IT) plays the crucial role. Over the last few decades, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) has been employed in the pharmaceutical industry to synchronize information between business partners. However, an information standard is also needed to seamlessly exchange electronic documents between business partners. XML-based information technology is a promising tool and is starting to gain popularity over EDI-based technology. In this research, we study a medium size multinational pharmaceutical company in Thailand, and how a web-based system and a business standard for information flow (RosettaNet standard in this case) can be applied to improve efficiency in its supply chain operations. In particular, we examine the information flow during the process of order transactions between the pharmaceutical company, its customers (hospitals), and its distributors. We first examine the current business process and propose a new process with a web-based system. The new system is examined and the result is analyzed.