What is Contract Manufacturing in Pharma?

Contract manufacturing in Pharma is a business model wherein you hire another company to produce assemblies, components, or goods. Most think of contract manufacturing as outsourcing, where the contract manufacturer agrees with a third-party service provider. If you are considering contract manufacturing to support your business, grow your operations, and increase your revenue, here’s how to choose a partner.

Find One Early in the Process

Consider finding a contract manufacturing partner early on in your project. This will allow you to share target costs and consider logistics from the start so that when it comes time for production, everything has been planned out accordingly. A CM partner can review your program and propose manufacturing methods to deliver the best possible results with repeatable processes.

Define the Scope of the Work

Before you work with a contract manufacturing company, discuss the scope of the work. Go over several critical factors that include:

• What is the timeline?
• Who will handle the core tasks?
• What expectations do both parties have?
• Can the CM company define its supply chain from the first to the last step?
• What are the milestones in the timeline?

Talk About the Process

You should use beta builds to confirm the fit, form and function of your product. Think about freezing the design early. This will help prove out process so it can go smoothly without any changes needed later on in production which could lead into delays costing you big time if not done early enough! It may seem tedious but adding more planning stages means saving even heavier costs when transforming ideas into reality.

Consider Sourcing Requirements

When you choose your contract manufacturing partner, make sure to discuss sourcing requirements. This will help simplify the supply chain while working on improving speed-to market times. One thing to remember, though: are you thinking about the obsolescence risk?Create contingency plans for that. Take the time to identify long lead components. Which ones can impact your purchasing strategy? Talk to your CM partner about those options.

Explore Effects of Environmental Exposure

Before you pack and label, consider the effect of environmental exposure on the components or final devices. That should be checked in the early development stages, so you can come up with solutions to the problems.

Be Realistic About the Budget

When you look for a contract manufacturing company, keep budgeting in your mind. Staying within the price range that you can afford is a priority. But before that, make sure your budget is realistic and is within your program’s requirements.