• ISSN: 2010-0248 (Print)
    • Abbreviated Title: Int. J. Innov.  Manag. Technol.
    • Frequency: Quarterly
    • DOI: 10.18178/IJIMT
    • Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Jin Wang
    • Managing Editor: Ms. Nancy Y. Liu
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HOME > Archive > 2023 > Volume 14 Number 3 (Aug. 2023) >
IJIMT 2023 Vol.14(3): 108-114
doi: 10.18178/ijimt.2023.14.3.946

Impact of Lean Tools in the Supply Chain: Pharmaceutical Industry Perspective

Abstract—The aim of this paper is to identify the impact of the application of lean tools in the pharmaceutical supply chain (PSC) through a literature review. Supply chain inefficiencies before and during the COVID 19 pandemic, most applied tools, and lean improvements found in the PSC are identified. Databases such as Scopus and Proquest were used to collect the peer-reviewed articles to be studied. Results show the most frequent inefficiencies in the supply chain are found in operating costs, scrap rates, delivery times, and drug shortages. The improvements identified can be summarized in three factors: cost reduction, time reduction, and improvement in the management of activities. The most studied tools are Kaizen, Kanban, Total Quality Management (TQM), and Value Stream Mapping (VSM). Literature reveals that lean tools have a significant impact on quality improvement of information, products and/or services, as well as on the reduction or elimination of activities that do not generate value; in addition, there is little evidence of reduction of unnecessary movements of workers. The value of this paper addresses the impact of the pandemic on PSC, describing the versatility that each of the tools had in their role to reduce lean wastes. The versatility allows to identify which tool may be available according to the need of the practitioner.

Index Terms—Lean, pharmaceutical industry, supply chain, waste

The authors are with the Facultad de Ingeniería y Arquitectura, Universidad de Lima, Peru.
*Correspondence: rchavezu@ulima.edu.pe (R.C.U.)

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Cite: Sebastián Aguirre-Manrique, Valeria Wong-Lam, and Rafael Chávez-Ugaz*, "Impact of Lean Tools in the Supply Chain: Pharmaceutical Industry Perspective," International Journal of Innovation, Management and Technology vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 108-114, 2023.

Copyright © 2023 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).

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