Evaluation of postponement in the Drug Product supply chain

This thesis evaluates the use of postponement in the Drug Product (DP) supply chain at Amgen, which is characterized by highly variable production lead times. The motivation for the use of postponement in the DP supply chain is to reduce the lead time and improve the service level from the manufacturing site to the distribution centers (DCs). Amgen is undergoing a rapid global expansion and is now serving markets that operate on tender (bid) systems that require rapid fulfillment. To compound this challenge, FDA driven requirements have significantly increased the likelihood of generating Non-Conformances (NCs) in DP manufacturing, which in turn increases the production lead time variability. A simulation model was created in Microsoft Excel that uses historic production lead time and demand data to determine postponement levels and simulate performance of the system. Leveraging the simulation model, this thesis demonstrates that utilizing postponement in supply chains with highly variable production lead times can significantly improve service level and diminish customer lead time while potentially reducing global inventory levels.

Department dc:contributor.department

Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Sazdanoff, Nicholas

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Thomas Roemer and Brian Anthony.

• Sloan School of Management.
• Mechanical Engineering.
• Leaders for Global Operations Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/99037

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/99037