Alba Bioscience's role is to develop and manufacture diagnostic products – typically, reagents for blood grouping and haematology - for use by hospital blood banks and major diagnostic companies in international markets.

A TROPOS ERP system from SSI is at the heart of Alba Bioscience’s ambitious plans for global expansion. TROPOS has helped position the organisation as a viable commercial organisation over the last nine years. Management sees the system as “an ingrained part of the business”.

“We couldn’t live without TROPOS,” says Ian Buckingham, Sales and Marketing Director. “It has helped us to achieve great efficiencies and cost savings for everything from order processing and customer service, to manufacturing, planning and inventory control.

“It has also enabled us to meet the exacting standards of our industry and international regulators, such as the Food and Drugs Administration in the US. Now we are looking to TROPOS to provide the web enabled services our international customers increasingly expect.”

World class standards

Since the mid 1990s, has been supplying contract services to the bioscience industry, and manufactures products for major global players in the IVD, biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors.

Critical to its success in Western European, Asian and US markets has been the organisation’s careful adoption of world class standards of operation. Alba Bioscience has a manufacturing plant in Edinburgh, built to European Community (EC) specifications of Good Manufacturing Practice for Medicinal Products. It is accredited to Annex IV of the EC’s IN Vitro Diagnostics Medical Devices Directive. It follows the rigorous Statements of Purpose discipline required by its markets.

TROPOS delivers the management controls and process efficiencies demanded by Alba Bioscience and its exacting clients. Introduced in 1997 to consolidate a variety of bespoke systems that were becoming increasingly difficult to support, TROPOS modules manage sales order processing, customer relationship management, production planning, stock control, quality recording and release control with full online traceability through multiple levels of manufacture.

"We are a very efficient and productive operation,” says Ian Buckingham.  “We only employ 60 people, and most of us are directly involved in production, quality or sales. TROPOS has helped to make us more efficient. I have no doubt that TROPOS also saves us money by keeping control of our raw materials requirements and minimising excess expired stock.”

Satisfied customers

One of Alba Bioscience’s critical success factors is production planning for its 200 or so products, to meet customers’ varied and sometimes complex requirements. Some customers want product deliveries from stock, delivered fast. Others require ‘made to measure’ contract orders on a longer lead time, where tracking the order throughout the production process is critical to optimised deliveries and satisfied customers.
 
Ian Buckingham says that the major contribution made by TROPOS is in manufacturing planning and scheduling. “TROPOS is invaluable to us in marrying up requirements and production forecasts,” he says. “Doing that is what keeps our customers happy, and us in business.” 

“As soon as an order comes in,” Ian Buckingham says, “the system allocates stock efficiently and gives an up to date position on the inventory situation. As the order goes through, we can get products into despatch quickly, and be able to tell our customers accurately when they will be sent. Our turnaround time from order to despatch is very fast, and that’s largely down to TROPOS.”

Successful process audits

Increasingly important to Alba Biosciences’ commercial operations is its ability to meet the rigorous standards of its major global customers, and the regulators of their markets. The first of Alba Bioscience’s products was given FDA (510k) clearance in 2005, with further products receiving FDA clearance in 2007.

“We have had an FDA pre audit and major customer audits in recent months, and TROPOS has provided excellent support because of its strengths in traceability and controls,” Ian Buckingham says.

Preparing for the future

Alba Bioscience recognise that in order to survive in its competitive markets, the organisation must seek continuous improvement to its processes and its customer service.

The TROPOS system is web enabled, and can be configured to allow customers to get real time web access to comprehensive information about their order status and delivery. “This will be really important to our customers, especially those who are on the other side of the world and working in different time zones. We have been talking to SSI and we are confident that TROPOS will give us the system we need for the future.”

Alba Bioscience is also gearing itself for growth with plans to develop greater manufacturing capacity and capability. “As we get more products approved by the FDA, we expect to expand our markets in the US and in other international markets, and so the TROPOS system requires to grow with us,” Ian Buckingham says.

“It makes that investment decision a lot more comfortable, knowing that TROPOS will be controlling the production facilities,” he says.

TROPOS has enabled Alba Bioscience to develop a highly successful commercial business alongside its public sector role. As it expands that business, TROPOS will be critical to its competitiveness, delivering efficient process management and control.