Transitioning from Automotive to Life Sciences
In a recent episode of the Auto Supply Chain Prophets podcast, Carrie Uhl, a seasoned supply chain executive, shares her journey from being the Vice President of Purchasing at the world’s fourth largest automotive supplier, to her move to medtech, and now in her current role as Chief Purchasing Officer at Danaher, a global life sciences and diagnostics organization. Her experiences offer valuable “food-for-thought” for life sciences supply chain management professionals.
As an aside, if you are an executive wondering if your experience in a supply chain leadership role can actually transfer to another industry, you might be pleased to know the value you can add. Uhl’s experience and insights underscore the importance of applying the fundamental principles of good supply chain management in ways most beneficial to your organization – no matter the industry.
Three Key Observations From Carrie Uhl
- Supply Chain Fundamentals Transcend Industries: While manufacturing processes and technologies may differ between life sciences and automotive, the core principles of supply chain management remain consistent across both industries. Uhl notes, regarding her transition from managing automotive supply chain to life sciences supply chain management, “I would say [it is] all in all a pretty easy transition. At the end of the day, supply chain is supply chain. The issues that face any industry are pretty similar. When you think of things that are top of mind for everybody, it’s things like security, supply, how to take cost out, how you’re going to be a customer of choice, making sure you’ve got the best talent, understanding what your digital roadmap is going to look like… all of these things are the same really in automotive and in healthcare.”
- Embracing Complexity and Resiliency: Carrie Uhl mentions that the intense focus on quality is common to both the life sciences and the automotive industries. With regard to managing supply chain risk and resiliency, she suggests that “You can’t de-risk everything. It’s just not possible. You’ve got to define what’s most important as your place to start, and have a really good method for quantifying revenue impact. You have to start with some kind of scoping and have a really good method for quantifying revenue impact. For example, if you don’t get certain components, you need to know what’s common across platforms. Knowing what that one part is that is on everything you make, and it might be low revenue, but it’s very high impact. And then, especially in medtech and life sciences, it’s also about the impact on global health…it might not be your highest revenue products, but it’s the ones that have the most impact on global health. Once you’ve kind of scoped your de-risking and resiliency, then it comes down to what does mitigating risk actually even mean? And it’s going to vary by part. It can’t be one size fits all. Bottom line: evaluate your products and processes to assess areas of risk in your supply chain as a foundation for building resiliency.
- Regulatory and Quality Emphasis: Both the automotive and life sciences industries are highly regulated, with a strong focus on quality. Uhl’s experience in navigating regulatory environments is invaluable in her current role.
Guidance and Advice for Supply Chain Management Professionals
Carrie Uhl advocates for a strategic approach to supply chain resiliency, starting with identifying critical components and quantifying revenue impacts. She recommends a tailored risk mitigation strategy for each part. Additionally, in the interview, Uhl also advocates for creating strong supplier relationships and sharing technology roadmaps with suppliers as one idea to strengthen these relationships.
Uhl’s experiences provide a look into the supply chain topics that can truly provide the Chief Procurement Officer and other supply chain leaders seeking to modernize their supply chains, with ideas for how they can increase supply chain transparency and resiliency. Software solutions that help manufacturers achieve these goals include:
- Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) – Just as the nation moved from horse and buggy to automobiles, and AI transformed clinical decision making, Internet searches, and nearly every other facet of life, imagine lists of supplier requests and details currently captured in disparate emails and on whiteboards, now contained in a central repository. It is possible to more efficiently track supplier performance, contract obligations and certifications, so you can spend more time cultivating good supplier relationships, mitigating supplier risk and ensuring compliance.
- Process Intelligence (PI) – Gain greater visibility regarding existing processes to detect bottlenecks and anomalies, and gain the ability to identify small changes that, on a larger scale, can result in significant increases in financial savings and productivity. In March 2024, QAD added QAD Process Intelligence out-of-the-box integration with QAD SRM to cover any type of supplier collaboration activity. Checklists, audits and more can all be easily monitored, and lapses in compliance quickly resolved.
- Demand and Supply Chain Planning (DSCP) – Facilitate the accuracy of your demand forecasts to improve operational efficiency. See how ExpanScience leverages QAD DSCP to their advantage.
Insights from a Supply Chain Management Veteran
In summary, Carrie Uhl’s insights offer a refreshing perspective on life sciences manufacturing from her background in the automotive supply chain, and her experience leading supply chain management for medtech and life sciences organizations. Her candid reflections on the similarities, differences, and ideas for best practices across industries provide additional insights and ideas to consider. Uhl also recommends the book, “First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently” as a good read for leaders.
Listen to the full interview on the Auto Supply Chain Prophets podcast.
