Client Profile

Customer Name: Almac

Established: 2001

Customer Since: 2012

Employees: 4,900

Sector: Pharmaceuticals

The Almac Group is a Global Service Provider to the Pharmaceutical & Biotech Industry. Headquartered in Northern Ireland, with operations in the UK, across Europe, the US (Pennsylvania, North Carolina and California) and in Asia (Singapore and Tokyo), the company employs almost 5,000 highly skilled personnel.

Version 1 has provided support and enhancement services for Almac’s global Financial and Clinical Systems running on Oracle E-Business Suite® Release 12 under a Managed Services contract since 2012. The initial contract was renewed in 2015 and again in 2018 for an additional three years.

Real Local Partnership

The Managed Services model blends remote and onsite support for Almac’s core systems, combined with excellent technical skills and best-practice processes. Over 1800 system users across multiple business units and continents are supported by Version 1 on an up to 24*7*365 basis ensuring business continuity and maximum value from these mission-critical business applications.

The Version 1 team operates as an extension of Almac’s own in-house team, facilitated by a positive and productive working relationship based on shared values, trust and a commitment to driving customer success. All Version 1 team members are inducted in Almac’s standard operating procedures based on Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) regulations necessary to provide a best-practice service for the pharmaceutical industry. Investment in skills development and technical training of the team is ongoing, aligned to future customer requirements and in true partnership shared and open to the customer’s in-house team.

Continuous Improvement Record

Our approach to service delivery is characterised by proactivity – identifying and fixing problems before they impact the business – and a commitment to continual service improvement. Over the life-time of the partnership, Version 1 has achieved a reduction in business-as-usual support costs allowing re-deployment of resources to deliver business change and value-add initiatives. On a quarterly basis in conjunction with Almac stakeholders we plan, prioritise and review progress against agreed improvement initiatives. Business value delivered from these small and large initiatives has been wide-ranging and includes:

• Faster processing of customer quotes and clinical trial releases
• Usability improvements facilitating efficiency gains & productivity
• Improved data accuracy and reliability to all parts of Almac business
• Functional enhancements across manufacturing, finance and distribution operations.

Enabling Global Expansion

Over the course of the partnership, Almac has expanded globally, investing in its operational capability and employee numbers in its key territories including Europe, US, Asia and the UK. Version 1 has upgraded and enhanced the Clinical and Financial systems to allow Almac to better serve its customers in its key markets and enable global expansion.

This has included rolling out the solution to a new facility in Singapore, requiring a major configuration and re-design project delivered to a tight timeline and during the only designated downtime window of the Christmas period. Most recently the solution was extended to support a new European Campus in Dundalk which will meet client demand and address any potential challenges that may arise due to Brexit.

Delivering Competitive Advantage

“In Version 1 we have a partner absolutely in tune with our organisation, capable of driving day-to-day operational improvement and innovating for our long-term success.”

In a world where drug sophistication and the associated need for control from the point of creation to the point of delivery has become paramount, Almac realised there was a strategic advantage to implement a market differentiating end-to-end temperature compliance and risk management solution across the global supply chain for clinical trials customers.

Version 1 brought expertise to work in partnership with Almac to develop a real-time temperature monitoring solution called TempEZ™ which utilises the latest Internet of Things technology and Active Devices to capture temperature data from the manufacture of the product right through to patient administration.

The solution has established Almac as a market leader in temperature management of global clinical trials assisting customers in meeting compliance to Good Distribution Practices (GDP) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and supporting the emergence of biologic products with tight temperature bands. With TempEZ™, Almac has secured competitive advantage ensuring customer satisfaction and driving new economic, customer and business growth.