Building logistics resilience for Bayer

The power of simplicity

As one of the world's biggest life sciences companies, Bayer's broad range of healthcare products help millions of people every day. And with representation in 83 countries, Bayer relies on its far-reaching logistics operations to ensure its products always reach patients and consumers on time.

To support Bayer's growth ambitions and cope with a fast-evolving internal and external environment, changes in intercompany transport operations were required to address challenges around legacy technology infrastructure, a lack of end-to-end visibility and control, as well as limited standardization for transports from supply centers to markets.

Bayer and Accenture collaborated to conceptualize and create an innovative logistics model and simplify its primary transport operations for sea, air and road freight. By combining strategic partnerships of fourth-party logistics (4PL) services with cloud-based infrastructure and dedicated Bayer control tower teams, Bayer has enhanced service quality, efficiency and business resilience.

A model for operational oversight and continuous improvement

Underpinning the model's success were three key pillars:

• Technology for optimized transportation planning and transparency
  
  
• Strong Bayer control tower organization that oversees global transports, managed operationally by 4PLs
  
  
• A new, dedicated quality management system for logistics

Through the introduction of a cloud-based platform that facilitates near-time tracking of shipments, Bayer teams are now able to proactively track the location and status of shipments, digitally exchange documents and manage transport cost. The adoption of advanced transport management technology by 4PLs, which supports automated planning and optimization, has also led to significant improvements.

In addition to the newly introduced technology, Bayer's new control tower organization are pivotal to success. Global and regional teams have a dedicated focus on continuous improvement. They proactively oversee operations managed by 4PLs, make use of the established transparency, and foster better cross-functional collaboration within the supply chain. Together, Bayer and 4PL teams, enabled by data-driven dashboards and insights, did not only enhance service delivery, but also set the basis for optimization initiatives that reduced external freight costs by 12-15% within two years.

Lastly, the simplified and dedicated quality management system allows Bayer to respond to changing market dynamics and requirements faster. Examples of these include the quick implementation of rail freight operations, or advanced and more efficient packaging technologies.

Setting a new standard for supply chains through logistics

Bayer's improved logistics model is a cornerstone in building resilience within Bayer's supply chain. For example, the team was able to quickly respond to the red sea crisis. This resilience is crucial for its role in healthcare, where consistent product availability can be lifesaving. The organization is now equipped to respond to operational disruptions through flexible contingency plans, helping to ensure the continuous delivery of products and services. The ability to adapt and respond quickly to changing conditions safeguards Bayer's mission "Health for all, Hunger for none". This transformation has set Bayer up for success in the future, ensuring it can continue to deliver its solutions to patients and consumers across the world and is a key contributor to Bayer Logistics Vision 2032.