Company Profile Of Glaxosmithkline ( Gsk ) - 1454 Words

1.0 Company Profile GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), with its headquarters in the UK, is one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies. â€Å"GSK currently has sales of more than $35 billion and employs over 100,000 people worldwide. Over 42,000 employees work at 108 manufacturing sites in 41 countries and over 16,000 are in RD. RD is based at 24 sites in seven countries.† (Lager, T., 2002) GSK is the leader in four major therapeutic areas – the anti-infective, central nervous system, respiratory gastro intestinal, and metabolic fields. In addition, GSK is a leader in the field of vaccines and over-the-counter medicines and nutritional healthcare. 2.0 Critical Supply Chain Management Problem faced by GSK and its†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ Supply chain participants tried to optimise their own performances, without considering the needs of others, causing inventories to increase because safety stocks were required. It was found at GSK the presences of significant inventories based on a desire to protect production, distribution or marketing against both or either upstream or downstream fluctuations in supply or demand. 3.0 The Strategy used by GSK to Deal with the SCM Problem Following the supply chain review GSKs decided to change the planning management system and replenishment system. The purpose was to substitute the traditional CMI with Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI). GSK embarked on a partnering initiative using VMI both upstream and downstream in its supply chain in order to better coordinate the flows of materials and information between different participants, supporting efforts to improve data collection, management decentralisation and performance management system. It must be noted, prior to pursuing a VMI, GSK implemented a program to redesign its supply chain, with the aim of reducing the cost of its supply chain by reducing the number of manufacturing facilities drove manufacturing specialisation in a reduced across a reduced product