Today we bring you Part II of our 2020 summer series. This summer, spread over seven weeks, we’re offering a unique glimpse behind the scenes. Each week, we’ll take you on a tour of the various departments involved in the entire process when you have your health product manufactured by DuSart Pharma: from the initial enquiry through to production, and from packaging to dispatch.
Last week, we started at the very beginning: how does the enquiry process work, and how do we collaborate on the design and development of your product? Today, we hear from the next department in the process: the Procurement department. Mariska Smit will take you through it!
We are delighted to offer a glimpse into the day-to-day work of the Procurement department and to describe the role we play in the entire process, from product enquiry right through to delivery of the product to our customer.
In the Procurement department, we strive to support our colleagues in the Product Development and Sales departments as effectively as possible when handling product enquiries from our customers. Furthermore, it is essential for our warehouse and production department to receive the products we procure on time and to the required quality standards. We work every day to support all of this as effectively as possible through our procurement activities.
Our shared goal is service and customer focus. We are Dedicated to Service! This ethos is also reflected in the Procurement department. The quality of raw materials and packaging materials plays a key role in this, as do the reliability of supply, competitive pricing and expertise, and the responsiveness of our suppliers. To achieve this as effectively as possible, we focus on relationship management with our suppliers and forge partnerships.
We consider relationship management to be one of the most important aspects of procurement. We are constantly on the lookout for suppliers who wish to collaborate on a partnership basis. A partnership involves more than simply placing orders and receiving products: it is a collaboration in which growing together and improving together are paramount.
By working more closely with our suppliers – or rather, our partners – we can quickly provide information to our colleagues in the Product Development and Sales departments, gain additional market insight and procure goods more effectively. These factors are directly linked to our ability to handle customer enquiries and assist them with their weekly operational procurement.
Every two weeks, upon receipt of the customer’s order, our procurement team gets to work. Our planner schedules the order in the production and/or packaging department, and our ERP system generates a procurement proposal specifying the required purchase quantities. The Procurement department ensures that purchase orders are sent out with the correct delivery time and the price agreed in advance.
We request order confirmations and monitor delivery times at least once a week. This enables us to track outstanding and unconfirmed purchase orders. In this way, we aim to maintain as much control as possible over operational procurement. It is important for our colleagues in production and the warehouse to know when we can expect deliveries. This helps ensure a smooth process for the other departments involved within the organisation.
Now that the application has been submitted, the product development plan is finalised and the procurement process is complete, it is time for production. Next week, Part III of our summer series: the production of our solid health products, such as tablets and capsules.
