What is the emerging geopolitical scenario, and what effects does it have on global and interconnected pharmaceutical supply chains? The COVID-19 pandemic undeniably marked the start of a new era of “polycrisis,” characterized by continuous, frequent, and devastating crises.
 
Olon—a leading active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) supplier headquartered in Italy and with a global manufacturing network comprising 11 production sites and 7 research centers worldwide—has discovered the key to transforming crises into opportunities and making its complex operational model resilient and flexible: diversification and a multi-center approach.
 
The mantra in supply chain management, according to Olon Group’s head of global strategic planning and supply chain, Cristiano Capriotti, has long been reduce, reduce, reduce.



“Reduce costs, reduce production centers, reduce the number of suppliers, and reduce stocks of raw materials,” he said. “However, this pursuit of leanness has also brought with it the risk of diminished resilience, reducing the extra capacity of the production system, pushing the ‘just-in-time’ approach to extremes, and forcing the system on decreasing costs and strategic options. This has centralized production in a handful of large hubs of maximized production and distribution, with substantial long-term investments, to achieve maximum efficiency.”
 
But being lean does not always allow you to be responsive to the market, particularly in situations of continued instability, such as we are experiencing today and will continue to experience for some time, according to Capriotti.
 
“Historically—not just since the crisis—at Olon we have seen the elimination of suppliers as a decrease in the company’s wealth and in the ability of being agile and responsive,” he explained. “Through great investment from the entire organization, including regulatory, QA, R&D, and operations sectors, we have pursued a structured Assurance of Supply program based on continuous risk analysis and the diversification of geopolitical areas of suppliers, and keeping European suppliers whenever possible. We have adhered to the principle of not being dependent on one single region, which can cause unforeseen problems and supply disruption, such as the closure of connecting channels or global political happenings affecting the circulation of goods that we are seeing today.”