Abstract
As one of the largest healthcare-focused companies in the world, Johnson & Johnson maintains operations in 60 countries and employs more than 130,000 people. The company’s supply chain operations are massive and complicated, but it is continually highlighted by industry experts as a leader in supply chain operations. The objective of this paper is to explore and discuss how Johnson and Johnson manage five key aspects of its supply chain: Customer Relationship Management, Inventory Management, Quality Management, Logistics Functions, and Supply Chain Sustainability.
Integrating all the businesses in the supply chain, from raw material suppliers to final consumers, is what supply chain management (SCM) is all about. New possibilities and difficulties arise in supply chain management and organization as a result of increased rivalry, globalization of economies, and the desire for Johnson & Johnson to improve its competitiveness via operational efficiency. To achieve a competitive edge in the market, supply chain management (SCM) has emerged as a vital instrument as it connects the marketplace, the distribution network, the manufacturing process, and procurement operations to provide a service of quality at a low cost to the client.
Customer Relationship Management
Johnson & Johnson employs customer relationship management (CRM) as a business strategy to help develop and sustains connections with its customers. CRM may be implemented in a variety of ways depending on the software package you choose (Hazen et al., 2020). When it comes to CRM, however, Johnson & Johnson’s approach to customer service includes more than just technology. At all organizational levels, CRM care philosophy, encompassing policies and practices, customer service, staff training, marketing, money management, and information systems, is applied to the whole business (Self et al., 2021). Johnson & Johnson’s CRM system combines marketing, sales, and customer support. Software and internet tools for sales, customer support, and marketing are often provided by CRM systems. People’s voices are being amplified in the marketplace through social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, and this is having a deep and far-reaching impact on how people purchase.
Customers may now investigate Johnson & Jonson online and then ask for advice through social media, making their purchase choice without contacting the firm. As a result of social media, many people are expressing their thoughts and feelings about certain businesses, goods, and services (Hazen et al., 2020). It is possible to express one’s views regarding J&J on social media since it is not as heavily regulated as mainstream media. Increasingly, Johnson & Johnson is seeking methods to participate in these discussions and obtain access to them. Social networking sites have been more integrated into a variety of systems (Self et al., 2021). Online communities may be a source of high-quality prospects and a vehicle for crowdsourcing remedies to customer care issues, according to social media advocates. As a result, Johnson & Johnson makes use of information about their customers’ buying patterns and preferences when developing their sales and marketing strategies (Alhosnai et al., 2021). One of the biggest and most diversified health care companies, Johnson & Johnson manufactures a wide range of goods for the market, pharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostic industries
Inventory Management
In most businesses, inventories are the most important source of working capital. Raw materials, completed commodities, work in progress, supplies, and other ancillary items all go into the inventory. A minimum quantity of inventory is necessary to ensure the smooth running of a company’s day-to-day operations (Saragih et al., 2020). Even though store superintendents are responsible for maintaining physical inventory control, finance staff has little say in the matter, making financial oversight of inventories that account for a significant portion of current assets a common source of concern in working capital management (Hazen et al., 2020). As a result, inventory management is aimed to control the amount of investment in products on hand, as well as the categories of goods held in stock, to satisfy production and sales demands while keeping investment in them at a sustainable level.
Consumer, Pharmaceutical, Medical Devices, and Diagnostics make up Johnson & Johnson’s three business segments. Health care goods for babies, skin, dental care, wound treatment, and women’s health is all included in the Consumer category (Saragih et al., 2020). Also included are nutritional supplements and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, as well as wellness and preventative services. There are two lines in the Oral Care franchise: Listerine and REACH (Saragih et al., 2020). The BAND-AID and PURELL brands of adhesive bandages and hand sanitizers are part of the Wound Care franchise. These include CAREFREE Pant liners, STAYFREE sanitary protection products, and Vania Expansion items under the Women’s Health product category. SPLENDA, a calorie-free sweetener, is one of the nutritional and over-the-counter lines offered by Johnson & Johnson Merck Consumer Pharmaceuticals Co., as are a wide range of TYLENOL acetaminophen products, SUDAFED cold, flu, and allergy products, ZYRTEC allergy products, MOTRIN IB ibuprofen products, and PEPCID AC acid controllers (Saragih et al., 2020). Customers may buy these items from retailers and distributors all across the globe, who then sell them to customers. Products in the following therapeutic categories are included in the pharmaceutical segment: anti-infectives, antipsychotics, cardiovascular and contraceptive drugs, dermatology, gastroenterology, hematology, immunology, oncology, pain management, and virological drugs.
Quality Management
Johnson & Johnson has a system in place to guarantee that quality processes and records are properly documented and controlled. Quality systems and product requirements papers must be identified, created, reviewed, approved, distributed, and implemented following the documentation system’s procedures (Hazen et al., 2020). Additionally, J&J controls quality via its quality roles and responsibilities, rules and procedures as well as its quality standards, processes, and practices. The Quality Management Framework is the name given to all of this. All of the company’s business units and functional areas have their Quality Management Systems, all of which are backed by senior management (Saragih et al., 2020). It is the topmost level of management at Johnson & Johnson that has the duty, authority, and control of resources to develop, execute and/or alter the organization’s organizational structure, policies, processes, and practices (s) (Hazen, Russo, Confente, & Pellathy., 2020). Management makes certain that Quality and Compliance has major decision-making duties and supervision obligations for all Quality Management Systems throughout the company (James et al., 2019). As a result, all employees are held to the same standards for quality, regardless of their position in the organization.
Some of the ways Johnson and Johnson incorporates quality management are:
- Supporting regulatory innovation: An evaluation and input on a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) utilized in the proposed model by Johnson and Johnson helped progress the FDAFDA US Food & Drug Administration Digital Health Software Precertification (Pre-Cert) Pilot Program to the next step. For medical device software solutions, the Pre-Certification Program intends to speed up its entry into the US market. Digital health technology firms that show and maintain a high standard of quality and organizational excellence will be eligible for expedited product regulatory evaluations under the new program (MacNeil et al., 2021). As part of the Medical Device Innovation Consortium Digital Health Initiative, Johnson & Johnson has joined other industry leaders in developing innovative regulatory pathways for organizations to plan for simple and efficient product submissions and notifications while meeting high product quality and safety standards.
- Improving Data Security for Quality & Compliance Professionals: For its Quality & Compliance employees, Johnson & Johnson has begun implementing its own proprietary Compliance Insights Application (CIA) technological architecture. It is possible to safeguard sensitive data in our data science applications by using the CIA’s approved method of managing the highest degree of privacy information (MacNeil et al., 2021). Data science applications and datasets may be published in a scalable manner, while access rights management can be simplified. As part of our Pharmaceutical sector Quality & Compliance toolset, Johnson & Johnson technical professionals built this software internally.
- Digitalizing the Company’s Processes: For the benefit of patients and customers, Johnson & Johnson continues to use the newest technologies, such as AIAI Artificial intelligence, data science, and intelligent automation. When we automate our documentation procedures, we may minimize the time it takes for items to reach consumers while producing a digital record and database that can be used to evaluate our operations. DePuy Synthes’ sterile discharge quality control method was automated in 2021, for example (Ivanov, 2021). Quality control was automated by using visual character identification technologies to turn text pictures into electronic information that could be accessed by Johnson & Johnson employees.
Logistics Functions
Paper products like toilet paper and hand towels were scarce when the COVID-19 epidemic first appeared (MacNeil et al., 2021). Fever reducers and cough medicines, as well as hand sanitizers, disinfectant sprays, and cleaning wipes, were in great demand. Even though consumers were learning a lot about supply and demand, Johnson & Johnson’s experts were confident in their ability to manage or avoid disruptions so that hospitals, pharmacies, and people all over the globe could keep getting the medication, medical devices, and other healthcare products they need. Tylenoldemand ®’s from both consumers and wholesalers almost doubled in the early stages of the epidemic (MacNeil et al., 2021). The company’s supply chain did everything it could to keep up with the demand, including running its plants around the clock and cutting back on the production of more complex formulations to concentrate on producing the highest possible volumes of the medicines that people were most in need of at the time. Using data science and advanced algorithms to track usual order patterns and detect large deviations is another method the corporation avoids unnecessarily hoarding (MacNeil et al., 2021). Medical facilities and governments use Johnson & Johnson’s technology to keep track of hundreds of thousands of orders. Because of this, supply chain specialists are alerted when an algorithm spots an abnormality in the data.
First-hand community exposure to COVID-19 or government mandates to quarantine people at home meant that supply chain managers had to cope with fluctuating workforce numbers in their manufacturing operations. Using real-time data on workforce levels and usual production rates, Johnson & Johnson developed highly automated scenario risk simulation technology that can forecast various worst-case scenarios. Instead of scrambling to respond in a crisis, the organization might prepare ahead of time (Hazen et al., 2020). With the use of mathematical models, supply chain managers were able to determine what they could sustain and what needed to be reworked, such as transferring manufacturing to a new site, staggered shifts, or altering delivery techniques (Hazen et al., 2020). The use of risk simulation technology has also helped the corporation to better monitor the requirement for raw materials, so there was no need to purchase too much or too little, both of which might have expensive repercussions.
Supply Chain Sustainability
Community concerns are taken into consideration by Johnson & Johnson. The company’s long history of environmental stewardship exemplifies this concern and the company’s view that what is good for Johnson Controls is also good for Johnson & Johnson goods, services, and production practices (Becerra et al., 2022). At Johnson & Johnson, the company believes that a harassment-free workplace is essential for the growth of our employees’ sense of dignity and self-worth. Harassment of any kind, whether physical or verbal, will not be condoned. Consequently, suppliers are required to conduct their business safely and sustainably in compliance with all regulations and to reduce their carbon impact (James et al., 2019). Suppliers to Johnson Controls are expected to conduct their business in a socially and ecologically responsible way.
This includes everything from adhering to legal and ethical standards to maintaining company continuity and performance and revealing information about the supplier’s environmental and social effects; the criteria for suppliers encompass all of these aspects and more (Tarigan Siagian, & Jie., 2021). 98 percent of the company’s external manufacturers have been found to comply with the company’s guidelines for responsible external manufacturing, which was set in 2006 (James et al., 2019). The firm collaborates with suppliers to enhance performance when infractions are discovered. However, if the issue cannot be resolved, J&J may cancel its relationship with the supplier.
According to the company’s Supplier Diversity Program which was created in 1998, the firm has spent over $1 billion with small companies and suppliers with a varied range of ownership. More than 2,400 M/WBE vendors supplied the company with products and services in 2010 (Meeker-O’Connell et al., 2018). To guarantee that manufacturing and production are done in a socially and ecologically responsible manner, J&J collaborates with supply chain partners (Hazen et al., 2020). To discover supplier partners that do everything from safeguarding and promoting worker health and safety to supply products and services that have a decreased or positive effect on the environment, J&J has launched a procurement sustainability program
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