Manufacturing for the Future
In addition to working on new products and services, J&J is also experimenting with how to manufacture for the future by incorporating new technologies and capitalizing on real-time data and analytics. Previously, J&J would have information on demand cycles, purchasing preferences and so on, but it was hard to predict potential disruptions or understand why customers were making certain decisions. To prepare for the future, J&J used this emerging capability to react to the recent terrorist attack at the Brussels airport. Belgium is the distribution hub for many products in Europe, data analytics allowed J&J to divert product to meet patients’ needs.
J&J is also using new technology to improve packaging and anticipate customer needs. J&J provides prescription treatments for a variety of conditions. With SmartPak technology, the supply chain team can track delivery of medications but also have the package automatically send a message that the package has been opened, giving suppliers and healthcare providers insights about refill needs or if different treatment options need to be developed because patients routinely forget to take medications.
In collaboration with J&J colleagues throughout the Supply Chain, Stevens and her team are also busy learning from other industries that have mastered rapid release manufacturing. Given J&J's focus on healthcare, it is important for each product to be backed by rigorous quality testing. Historically, that's made for a slow manufacturing process. However, other industries like semiconductor makers that also rely on rigorous quality testing have been able to speed up the pace to market, while providing microchips that have consistently better performance. J&J has made it a strategic imperative to learn from industries like semiconductor manufacturing to understand how to handle the rapid release of complex products.
Shaping the Portfolio
Finding answers to questions of the future can be difficult. In order to stay on top, Stevens and her team are helping the J&J Supply Chain evolve its way of working to innovate rapidly, but breakthrough innovation doesn't happen overnight. Ideas require testing and an understanding of how they will benefit the organization and the customer.
J&J’s supply chain team regularly meets with J&J's partner network to understand pain points, to explore new areas of demand and to solicit ideas. Once those ideas are paired down to a few key threads that align with J&J's business, the supply chain team gets to work. Ideas are studied, then developed and finally tested. Testing happens in agile sprints over a 3-6 month cycle in a target area to see how well a given idea will work out. "We go out and test small and rapidly learn," Stevens says. "For the ones that work, we scale like crazy and the adoption is incredible because everyone is aware of the pilots we're working - the engagement is right there."
One of the small tests currently underway in Jacksonville, Florida involves QR codes. In an effort to streamline maintenance, Stevens’ team partnered with a QR code provider to add the codes to each one of their product lines. Now when a maintenance person goes to update a given line, they scan the code with a smartphone and get all the steps required to make an update. If they run into trouble, they can put on Google Glasses and work with a technician remotely. The process removes any wait time associated with finding the right information or right person to make a change if something is out of the ordinary.