Digital Transformation Steering Committee Charter

• Develop practices for digital supply chain roadmap development
• Establish leading practices for identifying and prioritizing processes for digitization and digitalization
• Accelerate and improve the efficacy of drug development, manufacturing, distribution, and returns/reverse logistics

 

Digital Transformation Steering Committee Pathways

 

• Collaborate and learn from each other’s successes and “interesting stories” around digitalization
• Discuss where and how BSMA members can and would like to benefit from specific digital transformation strategic approaches and educational topics
• Identify areas of interest and need in the industry as it pertains to digitalization, not just supply chain digitalization, and digital business transformation
• Determine the best delivery mechanisms and cadence to address the knowledge gaps/areas of interest we identify

UNABLE TO ATTEND: Aparna Seksaria (SAP), Barbara Fitch (Allogene), Bob Lamont (Clarkston Consulting), Brian Daleiden (Tracelink), Cyde Klaristenfeld (Sanofi), Franck Toussaint (BSMA Europe), June Osofsky (ABC-Plan), Paul deRoulhac ((Genentech), Rajeev Mishra (Slalom), Steve Clarke (Clark Consulting), and Terry Leo (Bristlecone).

SUMMARY:

The discussion focused on advancing digital transformation within the BioPharma sector, with an emphasis on collaboration and information sharing among stakeholders. Randy Bradley highlighted the need for a consistent quarterly meeting schedule to facilitate ongoing dialogue about challenges and opportunities in their respective roles.

The conversation included insights from various participants regarding the impact of tariffs on gross margins and supplier transparency. Paul Anderson raised concerns about inconsistent communication from suppliers regarding price increases, while Rich noted a broader trend of price hikes among IoT technology suppliers. Leon differentiated between price increases and surcharges, emphasizing their implications for customer relations. Russell DeLapp introduced a consortium aimed at addressing tariff issues and invited collaboration through customer panels.

The group also explored the integration of AI in supply chain operations, with mention of Barbara Garcia presenting Pfizer’s strategic approach. Randy outlined her four levels of transformation, emphasizing the shift towards deep process transformation through AI. Rich shared Pfizer’s success in automating forecasting for a considerable number of SKUs, leading to improved accuracy and reduced bias. The discussion included the evolving terminology around AI, particularly the concept of agentic AI, and its implications for the industry.

Siamak proposed the formation of a continuous working group focused on AI in supply chain management, stressing the need for a structured approach to leverage AI technologies. Russell discussed the shift towards digital solutions in response to global trade compliance, while Rich elaborated on the use of large language models for logistics management.

HIGHLIGHTS OF DELIBERATIONS:

Randy Bradley emphasized the importance of making future meetings more participant-focused, encouraging attendees to share their challenges and insights. He noted a recent identification of a digital supply chain focus shortage and expressed a desire to incorporate more digital-related topics into the agenda. The aim is to create a supportive environment where stakeholders can freely exchange ideas and receive candid feedback. He prompted a discussion by asking attendees to reflect on insights or developments since their last meetings in February and BSMA Conference in March, encouraging an open dialogue about current interests and challenges in digital transformation.

Paul Anderson discussed the challenges posed by tariffs and the varying levels of transparency from suppliers about price increases. Randy Bradley asked if suppliers were being transparent about their pricing strategies, to which Paul responded that some were following standard customs procedures while others were not. Rich added that suppliers of IoT technology were also raising prices indiscriminately, indicating a

Russell DeLapp emphasized the role of tariffs in accelerating digital transformation within the life sciences industry. He mentioned that companies are increasingly motivated to digitize their trade compliance processes, leading to innovations such as foreign trade zones to optimize cash flow. Additionally, he introduced a new AI-assistant designed solution to help customers navigate SAP processes related to tariffs. Russell DeLapp invited members to an event his company is organizing with SAP about tariffs.

Randy Bradley suggested that insights from economists could provide valuable perspectives for tariffs.

Randy Bradley shared details from Barbara Garcia’s presentation at a recent conference on Pfizer’s AI-driven supply chain transformation, which is structured in four levels. The company is currently focused on deep process transformation, utilizing machine learning and generative AI to enhance demand planning and reduce human bias in forecasting. They aim to automate forecasting for 13,000 SKUs by 2025, which represents a substantial portion of their operations.

Siamak Zadeh proposed creating a working group to facilitate ongoing discussions and investigations into AI applications in supply chain management. He highlighted the importance of identifying priority areas for immediate ROI and suggested leveraging academic resources for collaborative efforts.

Rich Kilmer highlighted the potential of large language models (LLMs) in enhancing human-computer interaction within the BioPharma sector. He shared his experience running an LLM locally to manage near real-time shipment inquiries and showcase its ability to provide accurate responses based on specific prompts. The discussion also touched on the importance of prompt engineering to eliminate generalization errors and improve the relevance of the model’s outputs.

Rich Kilmer highlighted the importance of technology in building intuitive data interfaces. Ranjan shared insights from his marketing work, focusing on the evaluation of AI models based on their accuracy and relevance. Stefan expressed concerns about the quality of data available for AI training, noting that poor data quality limits the effectiveness of AI applications.

Ranjan Sinha attended a lecture by an expert from Harvard who advises the federal government on tariffs and other aspects. Economist: Dr. Willy C. Shih, Robert, and Jane Cizik Professor of Management Practice, Harvard Business School. Additional references: https://hbr.org/2025/04/the-tariff-wars-just-upended-your-supply-chain-heres-how-to-adapt

Randy Bradley recommended Georg Schauer, an expert on international trade with tariffs, and Mary Marianne Wanamaker, leader of the Baker Center for Public Policy. She is an economist and has also served as a member of administration at the White House. https://haslam.utk.edu/people/profile/georg-schaur/

https://haslam.utk.edu/people/profile/marianne-wanamaker/

Ranjan Sinha mentioned that IBM has rolled out AI agents for procurement to help with supplier selection and evaluation, contract management, purchase order automation, demand forecasting, compliance management. The link to a webpage for AI Agents in Procurement: https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/ai-agents-in-procurement

Leon Trevett observed that there is a process improvement opportunity in AI by taking humans out of the loot and gathering all this data to be able to enrich the forecast. Having humans in the loot is challenging because there is inherently bias. At Illumina, there is a global organization modelling data and creating a baseline forecast, a regional organization adds regional nuance; and a final organization in the demand planning structure aggregates it together and works with global functions like product management, strategy, and longer term projections.

Leon Trevett suggested that we focus on using AI to drive a cognitive engine, a decision support engine, which makes recommendations. This engine must learn with an ML model selected to achieve 95% confidence to turn it into an RPA.

Rich Kilmer stated that in the mid-90s, we had a thing called digital agents with General Magic and Magic Cap. It was a completely different idea, but they had the Telescript programming language, and they built this language called to build digital agents in that you could delegate to and go perform functions like book trips for you.

Randy Bradley mentioned that Albert Bandura (1925-2021), a psychology and social science professor at Stanford, proposed the concept of Agentic AI in the 70s and 80s on human agency.

Russell DeLapp disclosed that one of their customers has requested them to set up a foreign trade zone in their warehouse, so the goods never actually hit the US. They save the cash flow from paying customs because everything they do is export.

Ranjan Sinha mentioned that he will be presenting marketing research utilizing Agentic AI.

Stefan Braun the data quality is sometimes so poor that you we have not enough training data to do things.

Rich Kilmer remarked that the use of AI Assist technology and especially large language models is a user interface to technology. It is a means of human-computer interaction that is effectively becoming multimodal with text-to-speech, speech-to-text capability. Text-to-voice capability.

Randy Bradley agreed to organize a webinar to demonstrate a methodical process to evaluate new models emerging.

Rich demonstrated online how he utilizes LLM to oversee a shipment from shipper to freight forwarder, carrier, customs and receiving depot, through its end-to -end cycle, obtaining status, sending emails required, finding temperature excursions, necessary prompts translated in different languages, etc. He showed the ability to build interfaces that allow one to get to the data needed very succinctly in a way that’s very humane.

FINAL THOUGHT:

Mary Yurkovic aptly described the Steering Committee that met today as a Knowledge Hub. The meeting turned out to be a powerful, shared learning experience of a Think Tank, which I am hoping members will find to be of unique value, the central reason for the Steering Committee.

The video recording of this meeting is available at:

https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/UOijyFl_h0KOaYS5f4YM1IszzVratU9ISPodJ1G8ZXCHuds877r5skp46NDfYeet.Rn50I9pUVEmigjyi?startTime=1747756716000

Passcode: 8+S#IsH0