Seagen's integrated supply chain: From clinical trials to commercialization

10/16/23 • 23 min

Want to know what it takes to manage an integrated supply chain that delivers a continuous supply of life-saving medicine around the world? In this episode of Big Ideas in Supply Chain, Elisabeth Kaszas, VP of Global Supply Operations at Seagen, joins Allen Jacques, Industry Thought Leader at Kinaxis, to discuss the importance of demand planning processes and tackling rapid growth during product launches. Gain insights on Seagen's transformation journey and learn why seamless data exchanges within the biopharma industry can reduce lead times to improve patient access to innovative therapies.

Seagen develops life-saving medicines using ADC (Antibody Drug Conjugate) technology, which targets and destroys select cancer cells. Elisabeth joined their team three years ago while they were in the midst of launching three major products. These launches created exponential growth within the company, creating new opportunities to scale up operations and understand the demand signals needed for production plans, supply plans, and distribution capabilities. [5:18]
Elisabeth worked vigilantly to prepare Seagen as they faced incremental growth. To do this, she knew they needed to remain agile and create more robust roles, responsibilities, and processes to ensure they would be able to sustain the volume and complexity of their products. Additionally, she had an integrated business planning process put in place to gain better end-to-end visibility. [7:51]
One of the biggest challenges faced at Seagen is long lead times, a topic that many supply chain practitioners are familiar with. Elisabeth states that making life-saving therapies takes time – and safety stock buffers – to try to stay ahead. She also believes there have been a lot of improvements over the past 20 years thanks to the help of advanced analytics and digital tools that have helped her gain improved insights into their end-to-end times to see where inventory is taking the longest. [18:12]

To hear more from Elisabeth and Allen about the vital role of advanced planning and the complexities of supply chain planning in biopharma, watch our latest Big Ideas in Supply Chain podcast.

Learn more about Elisabeth Kaszas and the work she’s doing at Seagen by following her on LinkedIn.

Kinaxis is a global leader in modern supply chain management. Our software is trusted by global brands in every industry to provide the agility and predictability needed to navigate today’s volatility and disruption. For more news and information, please visit kinaxis.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

Seagen develops life-saving medicines using ADC (Antibody Drug Conjugate) technology, which targets and destroys select cancer cells. Elisabeth joined their team three years ago while they were in the midst of launching three major products. These launches created exponential growth within the company, creating new opportunities to scale up operations and understand the demand signals needed for production plans, supply plans, and distribution capabilities. [5:18]
Elisabeth worked vigilantly to prepare Seagen as they faced incremental growth. To do this, she knew they needed to remain agile and create more robust roles, responsibilities, and processes to ensure they would be able to sustain the volume and complexity of their products. Additionally, she had an integrated business planning process put in place to gain better end-to-end visibility. [7:51]
One of the biggest challenges faced at Seagen is long lead times, a topic that many supply chain practitioners are familiar with. Elisabeth states that making life-saving therapies takes time – and safety stock buffers – to try to stay ahead. She also believes there have been a lot of improvements over the past 20 years thanks to the help of advanced analytics and digital tools that have helped her gain improved insights into their end-to-end times to see where inventory is taking the longest. [18:12]

To hear more from Elisabeth and Allen about the vital role of advanced planning and the complexities of supply chain planning in biopharma, watch our latest Big Ideas in Supply Chain podcast.

Learn more about Elisabeth Kaszas and the work she’s doing at Seagen by following her on LinkedIn.

Previous Episode

Transform your supply chain: The Crawl-Walk-Run method, with Jamieson Wellness

It might be tempting to tackle everything all at once when you’re digitally transforming your supply chain, but our experts at Jamieson Wellness know otherwise from experience. In the latest Big Ideas in Supply Chain podcast, Andre Teixeira, VP of Global Supply Chain, Raymond Khan, Senior Director of Supply Chain Center of Excellence and Network Operations, and Steve Mailloux, Director, Supply Chain Planning, join Matt Spooner, Industry Thought Leader at Kinaxis, to discuss the importance of using a crawl, walk, run approach when transforming your supply chain. They discuss the tools, processes, and capabilities needed to become more agile and competitive while sharing their insights on how the role of planners will change.

Andre explains that the key to the crawl, walk, run approach is to the start with the basics. As the supply chain team at Jamieson Wellness began its digital transformation, they took the time to evolve their process with a clear vision in mind: having the best service, the best working capital, and the best efficiencies in their plants. With this goal, they were able to select the right tools to enable them to get there. [2:18]
Steve attributes a lot of their success to the training that the supply chain team at Jamieson Wellness conducted. They were previously using a 23-year-old MRP system, which meant a lot of adaptability was required from leadership and their teams. Steve says that the training itself was adaptive and varied, offering learning opportunities ranging from live to offline, and working with smaller groups. They used this opportunity to gain valuable feedback so they could update their training strategy on the fly which helped move their crawl, walk, run process forward. [5:07]
Andre said that Jamieson Wellness started seeing results as soon as a month after implementing the digital transformation and putting their forecasting accuracy KPIs in place. Forecasting accuracy improved exponentially, and they were able to have more robust discussions with their sales partners. Steve says they saw instant benefits on the supply planning side, specifically in raw material pegging and capacity levelling. [14:14]

To hear more from Andre, Raymond, Steve, and Matt about transforming your supply chain with the crawl, walk, run method, watch our latest Big Ideas in Supply Chain podcast.

Learn more about Jamieson Wellness and the work their experts are doing by following Andre on LinkedIn, Raymond on LinkedIn, and Steve on LinkedIn.

Next Episode

Embracing innovation for a futuristic supply chain

As supply chains continue to evolve in a post-pandemic landscape, many supply chain practitioners are wondering how to best stay on top of trends. In today's competitive environment, knowing how to deliver the right product the right way and being able to optimize data and analytics could make or break your organization. In this podcast, Mohan Sodhi, Professor of Operations & Supply Chain Management at the Bayes Business School at the City University of London, and Jayashankar Swaminathan, Professor of Operations at the University of North Carolina, join Angel Mendez, Board Member and Supply Chain Innovator, and Dr. Anne Robinson, Chief Strategy Officer at Kinaxis, to discuss how to bring innovation to the forefront of your organization so you can optimize supply chains for the future.

Mohan says that the biggest opportunities in supply chain innovation depend entirely on how much change is required within your supply chain. If you’re keeping your supply chain constant, then new innovations like AI or predictive learning technologies can be used to enhance it, making it more effective and efficient. However, some companies are being forced to shift their processes due to changing consumer habits. He uses music as an example to explain how products may stay the same, but the delivery method could change, highlighting how we went from tapes, to CDs, to MP3s and now streaming. [5:19]
Keeping up with innovation isn’t easy for chief supply chain officers that are focused on day-to-day executions. Jay explains that there are a lot of opportunities to explore and get started at universities, or even online learning courses like Coursera. He also recommends having a business case or pilot put in place to determine the value of embracing innovation by solving a real problem. Jay states, “if you want to be successful at innovation you need to try a lot of things. 75%-80% of attempts will fail but you shouldn’t lose heart.” [17:01]
Looking towards the future of supply chain innovation, Mohan says most of the students he teaches are interested in digital technology like AI, blockchain, and creating a start-up model. Jay says he’s seen a significant shift with his students who were once interested in the global aspect of supply chain and are now looking closer at digitization and making the supply chain more responsive. [19:53]

To hear more from Mohan, Jay, Angel, and Anne about embracing innovation for a futuristic supply chain, watch our Big Ideas in Supply Chain podcast.

To learn more about the work that Mohan is doing at the Bayes Business School at the City University of London, you can follow him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

To learn more about the work Jay is doing at the University of North Carolina, you can follow him on LinkedIn and Twitter.