Managing Risk in the Medtech Supply Chain

FOR GREATER RESILIENCE

Take prophylactic measures to keep your supply chains in the best of health.

Securing high-quality supply is critical to the medical devices and products (medtech) industry. Customer demands are high. Patients may need medical products, such as ventilators, to survive. But without sufficient visibility, supply chain weaknesses often remain undetected. Disruption can cause nearly 4% annual profit loss, according to McKinsey Global Institute.

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Top Three Challenges for Medtech Supply Chains

Supply chain transparency

High risk potential from sole-source suppliers and lack of sub-tier visibility

Regulatory requirements

Laws and regulations are tightening. Securing supply and ensuring quality are key

Pricing pressure

Healthcare stakeholders are squeezing prices. Low-cost competition cuts into margins

How Our Customers Master Supply Chain Risk

“The riskmethods Solution is a key element of our supply chain risk management, and it has enabled us to deliver impressive results overall. We’ve shortened lead times by 64%, improved production quality by 27% and increased savings by 53%.”

James Klotz, Senior Vice President of Global Sourcing, Douglas Dynamics

Why Manage Risk with The riskmethods Solution^TM?

Be risk aware

Ensure business continuity. Stay on top of irregularities along your entire supply chain

React faster

Gain competitive advantage. Be the first to respond to threats to secure supply

Be proactive

Protect your business. Include risk in decision-making to foster resilience and ensure compliance

Use a Total View of Risk to Overcome Your Supply Chain Challenges

Challenge #1: Supply Chain Transparency

High risk potential from sole-source suppliers and lack of sub-tier visibility

Challenges: Medtech supply chains are highly globalized, but manufacturers rarely have visibility beyond tier-1 suppliers. Makers of medical devices too often rely on sole-source suppliers for critical components.

The riskmethods Solution improves transparency of your supply chains:

Visualize your entire supply chain (incl. all manufacturing sites) on a world map to reveal weak spots, such as supplier clusters in high-risk regions. Monitor all suppliers, third parties, and vendors for risk in real-time
Understand the impact of your business partners by assessing their criticality. Proactively address threats to make your supply chain more resilient
Use ready-made tools to help you develop mitigation strategies for emerging issues, and to reach out for information you need

Challenge #2: Regulatory Requirements

Strict rules and laws focus on securing supply and ensuring quality

Challenges: With ever-tightening legislation and regulation, medtech companies must focus on mitigating risks that could compromise product quality and security of supply. Examples of regulatory requirements include:

European Union Medical Device Regulation (EU MDR) requires greater traceability throughout the supply chain. Compliance costs could run into the millions
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires medical device manufacturers to report disruption in the production of critical medical equipment
A 2021 U.S. Executive Order to ensure supply chain resilience could demand greater sub-tier visibility, along with more robust sourcing and procurement strategies
Cybersecurity requirements in medtech supply chains are tightening

With The riskmethods Solution, you can:

Get transparency into who your business partners are, and where they operate. Understand the interconnections in your global supply chain to ensure all your business partners adhere to regulations
Use Comprehensive risk profiles to help you assess your business partners on quality, sustainability, cyber risk, work practices, and more. Act fast on compliance issues in your network, thanks to sub-tier visibility, real-time monitoring, and ready-made mitigation plans
Apply analytics tools to closely follow trends in your supply chain, measure the effectiveness of remediation actions, and document all your risk mitigation efforts. You can demonstrate to auditors or customers that you have risk under control

Challenge #3: Pricing Pressure

Healthcare stakeholders are squeezing prices. Low-cost competition cuts into margins

Challenges: Downstream pricing pressure is coming from insurers, providers, and governments who aim to reduce healthcare spending. Low-cost devices, also from nontraditional players, cut in to medtech margins as well. Yet too much focus on price makes supply chains vulnerable to disruption and shortage.

With The riskmethods Solution, you protect your margins by avoiding unforeseen costs, and by rising above your competition:

Include supply chain risk in your business decisions, for example, when onboarding new suppliers, or evaluating regions to source from. You avoid vulnerabilities and ensure supply chain resilience
Automatically consolidate all your risk data to identify patterns leading to shortages early on. React before your competition, and secure supply before market prices rise
Use ready-made remediation plans to streamline reactive and proactive risk mitigation. Effectively reduce risk before it materializes for a cost-effective supply chain