3D for R&D

A procurement manager at a leading pharmaceutical and diagnostics company was having a hard time finding new suppliers of 3D bioprinting, which they needed to build strategic partnerships and R&D collaborations.

What the procurement manager thought would be a relatively simple scouting project was turning into a colossal task. The main problem was that the 3D bioprinting industry was still in its infancy, with very few well-established players. He was realizing that most of the companies in the space were startups or early-stage ventures focused on research and development, and they lacked the scale and maturity that his global healthcare organization required.

From his research so far - which was extensive but not delivering any real results - he could see that the quality and reliability of 3D bioprinting technology varied significantly between suppliers. He was really struggling to find suppliers with proven, validated technologies that consistently met high pharmaceutical standards, such as reproducibility, precision, and regulatory compliance.

It was critical that he find new suppliers of 3D bioprinting, as

his organization was looking to form strategic partnerships or collaborations for research and development purposes. This would give them access to the latest innovations in bioprinting and help his company maintain a competitive edge in the healthcare and pharmaceutical markets.

Understanding the 3D bioprinting supply landscape would also help them identify potential key partners and mitigate the risks associated with over-reliance on single suppliers.

So, it was complicated. He had already exhausted all of his traditional methods of finding new suppliers - unfortunately, as the technology was so cutting edge, the internal databases had nothing. He wasn’t sure that he could trust the results that Google generated as they were mostly based on sponsored ads. His network also yielded no answers.

Just as he was about to throw in the towel and admit defeat, he remembered something his manager had mentioned about a new supplier scouting tool his company was trying out - Scoutbee Discovery, that was it.

He opened up the program and was happy to see that the search form looked really straightforward. He recalled his manager saying that the AI-powered solution crawled the entire internet to find suitable suppliers, ignoring SEO optimized content. This was great news, since that was the main stumbling block he’d encountered when it came to the generic search engines he’d tried.

He entered his search criteria - suppliers of 3D bioprinting, located anywhere in the world, and the certifications they should have in order to ensure compliance with the stringent regulations in the healthcare industry. And search!

Discovery informed him that it would return a list of suppliers that matched his criteria in a day or two. Since he’d already been searching for weeks with no joy, he guessed another day or two wouldn’t hurt!

The next afternoon, his jaw almost hit his keyboard when he got a notification that Discovery had identified 30 suppliers of 3D bioprinting that matched his search criteria. This was better than he ever could have dreamed of! He thanked his lucky stars that his company had licensed Scoutbee Discovery - he only wished they’d done it sooner as they could have saved weeks of his time which could have been better spent on other, more strategic tasks.

But, he had the list now and that was what mattered! Upon examining it more closely, he saw that the suppliers were ranked according to how well they fit his criteria. Each profile was then further enriched with information on the company size, revenue, location, and certificationsall extremely important to know.

After discussing the search results with his boss, they decided to shortlist seven of the suppliers and invite them for an RFP.

With this broadened pool of high-quality, compliant suppliers, the organization would now have access to the very latest cuttingedge technology, accelerating innovation and new product development within their own walls. As the suppliers were based in various locations around the world, they would also be able to avoid the risks associated with single sourcing and supply chain disruptions.

Procurement looked like superstars and R&D were thrilled - this could be the beginning of a beautiful (and very fruitful) friendship…

If you’re looking for a way to increase innovation in your supply chain, get in touch with us today to see how we can help.