How Implementing an Asset Management Program Works
Problem: A variety of factors can result in obsolete laboratory equipment and R&D devices. Project completion, equipment upgrade, lab closure, and downsizing all create surplus pharmaceutical assets no longer required in the same capacity—or at all. Given budget restrictions and the importance placed on environmentally-sound business practices, organizations can’t afford to allow surplus assets to lie idle or dispose of them without thought to the process. Surplus requires an innovative and sustainable process that supports strategic business goals.
Solution: Implementing an asset management program will connect your surplus to larger, strategic initiatives by enabling visibility of all assets across the entire organization. The process should include: implementing a companywide redeployment tool, setting guidelines for surplus, incorporating best practices and aligning the right resources to manage the program.
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Solution: Implementing an asset management program will connect your surplus to larger, strategic initiatives by enabling visibility of all assets across the entire organization. The process should include: implementing a companywide redeployment tool, setting guidelines for surplus, incorporating best practices and aligning the right resources to manage the program.
A first step in creating an asset management program that works for your organization is to implement a web-based, enterprise-wide system to support redeployment. A digital tool facilitates company-wide visibility of all its excess equipment, displaying readily accessible surplus to lab managers across the company. This system is particularly useful in the event there is a need for a specific item in one lab that is already sitting unused in another lab.
Redeployment is a cost effective option and best practice for idle assets; especially if it saves the company from spending money on procuring new equipment. To ensure redeployment is effectively utilized, organizations should establish criteria for which items should be reutilized versus sold. Guidelines to consider for the internal process include:
Redeploy high value items that maintain use over a long period of time
Don’t spend more on breakdown, removal, shipping, and installation than the cost of purchasing the asset in new condition
Sell lower-value lab equipment from its location or consider donating the items
Establish a cut-off date for internal acquisition; industry standard is 30 days
If no one within the company has requested or found use for an item within the allotted amount of time, it should be remarketed and sold. Consider implementing the following best practices which will allow you to achieve maximum recovery for the item:
Determine estimated values for the piece(s) of equipment
Determine a sales channel for the equipment, such as: online auction, private sale, or local advertisement
Create marketing collateral (advertisements, press releases) in order to properly market the item(s)
Determine buyer base and buyer location
Schedule a preview period so potential buyers can come inspect the item
Have a removal period in place
While most companies have invested resources to optimize their forward supply chain, oftentimes the reverse supply chain is approached as an afterthought or added to the plate of logistics or operations employees who don’t necessarily have the bandwidth to implement a best-in-class asset management system. Sometimes the best choice is to work with a trusted partner whose primary business is providing solutions for surplus assets. A reputable partner will have professionally managed data-driven services to manage, value, and sell all types of pharmaceutical equipment while bringing extensive knowledge of the secondary market and ensuring transparency, sustainability, and efficiency, as well as a vetted buyer base and compliant removal of the assets.
By aligning the right resources and applying best practices for redeployment and remarketing of assets, an asset management program can support strategic business goals and enable companies to unlock the value of their surplus and idle assets.
