Ask Me Anything: Careers in Supply Chain & Logistics
Earlier this week, Chris Frew, CEO of BioBuzz Networks, spoke with Andrew Buscemi, Associate Director of Supply Chain, REGENXBIO Inc., in our weekly Ask Me Anything series, to discuss supply chain and logistics.
April 10, 2024
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Supply chain and logistics play a pivotal role in the biotech industry, ensuring the efficient flow of materials and products crucial for research, development, and manufacturing processes. Timely access to raw materials and specialized equipment is essential for maintaining product quality and integrity, especially for sensitive biotech products like vaccines and gene therapies. Effective supply chain management optimizes production schedules, minimizes waste, and supports regulatory compliance, ensuring that biotech companies can meet demand while adhering to stringent safety and quality standards. Ultimately, a well-functioning supply chain facilitates patient access to life-saving therapies by ensuring that products reach those in need in a timely and cost-effective manner, regardless of geographic location or economic status.
Learn more about supply chain and logistics from Andrew Buscemi and Chris Frew in this week’s recording and transcript:
Chris Frew [00:00:00]:
Hi, everybody. It’s Chris Frew with BioBuzz here today with another episode of our Ask Me Anything series around careers in biotech. It’s been really exciting to do these weekly programs for everybody. We’ve been covering a lot of different careers, from flow cytometry to quality. And today we’re talking all about supply chain and logistics with someone I’ve known for quite a while, Andrew Buscemi, who is associate director of supply chain at REGENXBIO Inc. here in Maryland. Andrew, welcome today.
Andrew Buscemi [00:00:34]:
Yeah, good to be here, Chris. Appreciate the invite.
Chris Frew [00:00:37]:
Yeah, my pleasure, my pleasure. I appreciate you jumping on for 45 minutes or so with us today. Of course, Andrew. As we talked about these programs we’ve been doing, because BioBuzz is really all about helping to better connect employers with available and flexible talent. So that goes across the supply chain of talent, if you will, from entry level to. So hopefully after today, we’ll help unveil a little bit about what happens in supply chain and logistics for us and maybe, maybe sway someone over to kind of turn their career in your direction.
Andrew Buscemi [00:01:14]:
No, that sounds great. It’s an awesome thing, because at all the companies I’ve been at, too, the same question comes up. Yeah, what does everybody really do on a day to day? So, yeah, I think this is a great thing that what you’re doing to share across companies, but even with them as well, too. So. Good stuff, Chris.
Chris Frew [00:01:31]:
Fantastic. Well, why don’t we start off with a little bit about you? So, you know, do you mind just kind of doing an intro for the audience here? Tell us a little bit about who you are, how you got into, how you got into this field, and kind of give us a little bit of a foundation.
Andrew Buscemi [00:01:49]:
Yeah. Yeah, sure. So I’ve been in the biotech industry for a little over eight years now. Always had a passion for science, but didn’t exactly know what direction that would take me. So when I went to school, I did get my degree in biology. However, when I graduated, couldn’t really find anything specifically in the field there. So I ended up doing a bit of a pivot, which started my real support, supply chain and logistics career getting. I started working with a sales partner for DHL out in the Bay Area in California back in 2006.
Andrew Buscemi [00:02:24]:
So while that wasn’t exactly where I thought I may have taken that direction leaving school, I’m very thankful that I did. It was a great experience getting into the logistics industry, really seeing how businesses not only move product, but kind of have some of that planning aspect of about that very cool time and place as well. I got to meet with a lot of cool companies, 23 andme when they were small, even LinkedIn and some other ones in that area. So definitely a great way to start the career. But after being in that business for about ten years, I learned a lot of that from that. In terms of collaborating with the right people to make decisions with companies, I wanted to get back to that scientific route. So having that biology degree, I had moved back to the Maryland area from San Francisco, and I had a friend who worked at the GSK Rockville biopharm sites, and I had saw on their posted openings that they had a logistics planner role. And for me it was kind of a parting of the clouds and the sun coming down and saying, this is a great synergy from my previous experience to what they’re looking at here and being able to get back into something that I truly love.
Andrew Buscemi [00:03:43]:
So even having that in there, I would say that was a pretty lengthy process. I think it still took about four months to get through everything. So one thing I would say there is, you know, don’t get frustrated about that. I think we’ve all been that regardless of the field of what it is, you find something, it looks like the perfect fit. You’re still getting responses on there, but it seems to take a while. So one thing I’d say is just keep sticking with it in the beginning there. But I eventually did get hired on as a logistics planner. Did that for a couple years for them, transitioned into a more above site role doing global planning for them.
Andrew Buscemi [00:04:18]:
So we had three different production streams at that facility, and I was responsible for synthesizing some of the demand that we was coming through, both clinical, commercial, whatever it may be, and then providing a recommended manufacturing schedule to meet those demands back in 2020. Right as the pandemic was coming upon us, I was contacted by a good friend who used to run the site over at GSK, and it transitioned over to REGENXBIO and telling me what a great place this was. Some exciting things are happening in the gene therapy field. What a great culture that was going on here. And at the time I said, I’m not really looking pretty happy with where I’m at, but I never want to close the door before it opens. So I talked to him and it turned out to be a really exciting opportunity. One of the things that really intrigued me about that is we were on the cusp of building our own internal manufacturing facility. So up until that point, all of REGENXBIO manufacturing had been CMO based and on.
Andrew Buscemi [00:05:23]:
We have brought since brought that in house started manufacturing internally in 2022, but I was brought on as a senior manager of supply chain, really responsible for the planning team. So raw material ordering, supplier relationship management and some of that plant planning as well too as we both for the internal management and then some of the external stuff that we still had with the cmos. So been here for just about four years now. In March was my four year anniversary, which can’t believe how quick that flown by. But a lot of the same focus is kind of in my day to day. We’re still focusing on making sure that we’ve got the raw materials to be able to run here. And then also it’s kind of evolved into a next level as well with kind of, okay, we’ve got our, we’re up and running, we’ve got our feet off the ground and now we’re looking at more kind of risk mitigation and security of supply. So implementing those process improvements just to make sure that we’re taking as much risk out of the process as possible.
Andrew Buscemi [00:06:30]:
So yeah, been a great journey for sure. And.
Chris Frew [00:06:37]:
Yeah, fascinating journey. I have a question for you. Did you make REGENXBIO wait four months like they previously? Like, I’m just kidding.
Andrew Buscemi [00:06:46]:
No, exactly. You gotta take, you know, learnings from those experiences. Right. Yeah, that moved a little quicker on that regard too, so.
Chris Frew [00:06:56]:
Well, REGENXBIO is doing some really interesting things and the gene therapy space, you know, is definitely been, you know, you’ve been part of, you know, over the past four years, there’s been a lot of evolution, but if we could take a step back too, before, as you just got in, what, tell us, what was it like, you know, any lessons or any, any takeaways from transitioning into a biopharma logistics role from outside of the biopharma industry? Any takeaways or advice you would have for people?
Andrew Buscemi [00:07:29]:
Yeah, I’d be lying if I said that that wasn’t a bit intimidating at that point in time. You know, I had been in the logistics industry for ten years, you know, focusing a lot on international shipping. So I was familiar with, you know, some, some customs clearance, incoterms, things like that across the board, but it’s a whole different animal when you’re working for, you know, a bulk drug substance manufacturing site and having to get that material out internationally. So heavily cold chain, obviously white glove services that were needed. So definitely a bit outside of, I would say, my comfort zone on there. But we had a really great partner, three PL, third party logistics provider that we used at that point in time. So I leveraged a lot of their expertise, but then also just the other groups internally, you know, the SoPs and the process that we already had built. I think it was kind of fortunate coming into GSK as it was, being an already commercial site that had these processes is built so I could learn a bit on there, but then still kind of take a look at that with an outside set of eyes to say, oh, these are some, you know, potential process improvements that we may be able to build in.
Andrew Buscemi [00:08:47]:
But, yeah, I’d be lying if I said, you know, I just jumped in. And from day one, it’s like, okay, this is how it’s going to go. You know, it’s a bit of a learning curve on there, you know, a new industry, too, that I honestly didn’t realize. I didn’t know the difference between upstream and downstream manufacturing and production. So even though that wouldn’t be, like, directly related to getting product from point a to point b, it was definitely helpful to learn those other aspects as well, to just to learn about the timing of when I may be able to get the material and different aspects on there. So, yeah, I mean, like I say, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a little intimidating at some points in time, but I feel like those kind of areas where you maybe feel a little uncomfortable at some points are really where, you know, you’re growing on there. If everything you’re doing every day is just feels comfortable and normal on there, you’re probably not pushing those limits and trying to grow your capabilities as a person. That’s.
Andrew Buscemi [00:09:44]:
I see.
Chris Frew [00:09:45]:
Amen to that. Amen to that. Live a little bit in the uncomfortable zone.
Andrew Buscemi [00:09:49]:
Yeah, exactly. And then after a while, you know, you’re like, oh, it turns into a bit more of a routine thing and you feel good about it, but no, years later, you’re.
Chris Frew [00:09:58]:
You’re building the. Building the logistics plan from scratch.
Andrew Buscemi [00:10:01]:
Right, exactly. Exactly. So, yeah, there was a lot of lessons learned taken from there that we’re doing and that we’ll still be applying, you know, in terms of, you know, things like shipping validations and distribution risk assessments and things like that. So it’s. Yeah, yeah. The trajectory was great for me to be able to kind of get my feet under me at GSK and then kind of bring some of that knowledge to REGENXBIO.
Chris Frew [00:10:26]:
That’s great. I guess the other question I would have that I think might be helpful for our audience as well, kind of taking a 10,000 foot view or so could you paint a picture of, like, what is supply chain and logistics? What are the main buckets or components? Like, you know, how can you maybe help paint a picture of what that actually means? Like I said, we often hear from people in other groups, like, what goes on over there. So I know supply chain and logistics is a pretty broad kind of umbrella, and the bigger the organization, the more different segments you have. But could you try to take a stab at that? Like, kind of give a broad stroke of kind of what all falls under those elements?
Andrew Buscemi [00:11:11]:
Yeah, yeah, sure. And thinking about this, as you mentioned it, I see this as pretty similar across the organizations that I’ve had experience with. So I wouldn’t say this is just REGENXBIO specifically, but I think for a lot of people, when they hear supply chain, it’s more that kind of raw material procurement side of the things and kind of supplier relationship management. It’s, okay, we need these chemicals, these consumables, these single use assemblies, and everything else to be able to run our process. And it’s the. The, you know, culmination of managing the suppliers and getting things and when we need to and having all that stuff released and available for manufacturing. So that is 100% a big piece of what my team runs, the planning team here. The other piece that falls under planning, as I kind of alluded to before, is that a bit more shorter term manufacturing planning, where you’re saying, okay, again, synthesizing demand that you get, whether it’s clinical or commercial demand, and saying, all right, we need to run this many batches in Q one of this product and this many batches of the other product in Q two, or whatever the case may be.
Andrew Buscemi [00:12:22]:
So that’s the planning bucket, I think. One that doesn’t get as much recognition as it should for how critical it is to success the companies is really the materials management side side of things as well. At both companies that I’ve worked with, they’re a really integral partner for us to be able to execute on the deliverables that we need to. And it’s not something that I think that gets as much attention as that it may be. You know, materials management roles may not be the ones that people think that they really, or I should rephrase that. They may not think it’d be the first ones off the top of their head. They’re like, I just really want to get into this, that piece of it. But I do think it’s a great way also to get into supply chain where maybe those planning roles aren’t quite as open or there’s not as many at that point in time.
Andrew Buscemi [00:13:11]:
But you have something with a more manager level in materials management. It’s a great way to learn some of the processes around there. And then if something does open up to planning, which is maybe where you want it to be, you’ve already got your foot in the door as well, too. Materials management is obviously the one that’s receiving everything, helping to get that transferred up to the manufacturing floors after we’ve gone through the whole release process as well, too. The third pillar that I see, and I alluded to this before from the planning side, is that kind of clinical or commercial supply team who are feeding that information into those. So depending on how the company’s structured, those could be kind of completely separate groups. And a bigger company like GSK, you know, they have their whole commercial supply team that’s feeding stuff to us. And here at REGENXBIO, we have a clinical supply team that’s kind of managing some of the more.
Andrew Buscemi [00:14:05]:
Not only the demand, but then overseeing getting that drug to the actual hospitals or the service providers so they can minister to the patients. So, yeah, in summary, it’s really those three buckets. There’s the planning team, the materials management team, and then the kind of clinical or commercial supply team.
Chris Frew [00:14:21]:
Yeah. And especially, you know, from what I’ve learned with the growth of cell therapy and gene therapy as a product, I mean, when you’re talking, you know, one product, one patient supply chain, and.
Andrew Buscemi [00:14:39]:
That.
Chris Frew [00:14:39]:
Last mile or that kind of supply chain, total loop is actually more important than ever before because it becomes very critical getting the product out.
Andrew Buscemi [00:14:51]:
Yeah, 100%. I didn’t really see that in my experience with GSK before. We were kind of a little further upstream on the supply chain side of just making the bds and getting that to the fill sites for that to get filled into the vials and then packaged and labeled. But, yeah, seeing here at REGENXBIO, what the clinical supply team does to not only help us to get to where we need to go, but then managing that process of actually getting the drug handled and administered to the patients in a GMP compliant manner to make sure that they’re getting the material and in good integrity. It’s a lot because they’re having to train these different people. Each site has different capabilities, even in terms of freezer space, for example, or just other things there. So they’re always having to think of kind of maybe out of the box solutions, and you can’t just put everybody in that same kind of a happens and then goes to b and C. So, yeah, it’s amazing what those teams can do.
Chris Frew [00:15:55]:
Yeah. So it’s an exciting field that continues to get, I think that in biotech, when we used to work in large batch production like GSK, to now get to this precision medicine supply chain is becoming a growing field of interest in life sciences and biotech because of that.
Andrew Buscemi [00:16:17]:
Yeah. And I think there’s a lot of different engaging areas where people can find what niche they want to be in that as well, too.
Chris Frew [00:16:26]:
Yeah, that’s great. So we’ve got some questions coming in. Before we jump into that, let me just ask you real quick. Are there any skills or anything you would recommend people to kind of brush up on or any, especially if they’re transitioning into biotech industries. They come in from military, coming from DHL or some other. What advice would you have or what type of skills do you think are important for someone to be able to showcase or learn?
Andrew Buscemi [00:16:59]:
Yeah, so one of the things that I really saw at both companies, and especially so at REGENXBIO here, being a little bit more on the clinical stage of our lifecycle is supply chain just touches a whole lot of different groups. So, you know, not only just when material comes in here and working with our, you know, quality team to get things released and then, you know, working with manufacturing to get them the materials they need, but especially just on the project management side of things as well, too, I see a lot of times there’s cross functional initiatives within companies, and supply chain is pretty uniquely positioned because they have these interactions with so many of the different teams to take on kind of a project management role on there. So I think strong PM skills are definitely a benefit to being able to get into supply chain as well. If maybe you’re just in a different field or department within a company and looking to get, you know, have more exposure there, I think that’s, you know, pretty helpful. And just having that general flexibility because everybody’s got a plan on here and there’s always going to be a curveball that comes in. So being able to kind of respond to those change and kind of using clear and concise communication to, to be able to not only convey that to stakeholders, but then also be able to manage team members and hold them accountable to be able to execute deliverables would be a big one on there as well, too. But, yeah, I mean, specifically also the other thing that I’ve seen people utilize as a way to get into the supply chain side of things, or really any departments, if your company offers secondments. I would highly recommend looking into stuff like that where you can spend a quarter or 50% of your time kind of shadowing and working with another department and really kind of getting your, again, your feet wet and seeing if it’s something that is aligned with the next stage in your career growth.
Chris Frew [00:19:05]:
Yeah, it’s good advice. That’s good advice. I had a manager early in my career said, never waste a lunch. He’s, you know, so companies now are doing those where you can do. You can do shadows. But back, back 20 years ago, when I was getting started in the industry, it was like, never waste a lunch. So I was like, I was interested in certain things. I just go sit next to him.
Andrew Buscemi [00:19:28]:
Yeah. And then in the same vein, I mean, I know, you know, mentoring is kind of maybe not something that’s always on the forefront, but really, you know, identifying that with kind of a senior member of whatever department that you may be wanting to get into and, yeah, whether that’s just a lunch with them, you know, once a month or something a bit more structured, I think that’s a great way to not only develop those skills and kind of ask those questions you have, but also start to build that networking, you know, even within your company and then across other ones as well, too, because obviously, as you know, in BioBuzz, the networking is key. I wouldn’t be have gotten my foot in the door with GSK without add that contact on there and, and that continues within the company or even when you are looking to kind of switch and make a bit more of a bigger career move, too. So every relationship you build, you never know what’s going to happen from it. So always, always, you know, treating people right and keeping your best foot forward there.
Chris Frew [00:20:25]:
It’s a small industry in biotech, so that’s. That’s true.
Andrew Buscemi [00:20:28]:
So.
Chris Frew [00:20:28]:
But, yeah, I agree. Networking, we’ve been, you know, we’ve been supporting networking across biotech for a long time. And we’ve got, you know, we’ve got a drawer full of feedback and stories around people who met co founders or got their next job. And sometimes, like you had a friend at GSK, sometimes you do need that person on the inside that’ll just say, hey, listen, give this person interview and give them a shot. And that can go a long way.
Andrew Buscemi [00:20:52]:
Now, again, because, I mean, there’s obviously the other things you can do to build, you know, your case and resume certifications and other things around there. So I fully support stuff like that as well, too. But I feel like the combination of both is obviously the more powerful case where you need to go.
Chris Frew [00:21:14]:
Indeed. Well, Andrew, let’s jump into a couple questions. We got came that have come in. Is that okay? We switch over to some user questions. This isn’t ask me anything. So we had a question coming from John O’Brien about REGENXBIO. And I guess this could be brought across any company, really. But how do you coordinate or consolidate demand from clinical trials? You know, to the extent, you know, projected sales as well.
Chris Frew [00:21:42]:
But like in the clinical world, like, you know, flexibility set is needed. So as things change rapidly, how do you consolidate that kind of, you know, bake that in and pivot accordingly? You know, can you talk about that a little bit?
Andrew Buscemi [00:21:56]:
Yeah. And again, gets back to those different kind of pillars of supply chain that we were talking about, and the planning side. And the demand planning is obviously a huge one. And this isn’t specific to REGENXBIO or GSK. I mean, every company that I’ve seen has some version of this. So whether it’s clinical demand coming from the clinical supply team or there’s a more mature commercial demand, there’s that connection between that piece, whether they’re branch of supply chain or a completely separate one where that’s getting fed into the planning team. And you have a manufacturing schedule. Typically, I see companies building that short term manufacturing planning from about two to three years.
Andrew Buscemi [00:22:40]:
So the manufacturing operations and other supporting groups can plan their schedules around their end of year shutdowns, all the other things kind of building into that. But that demand is typically fed into the planning team, and then our outputs will be a manufacturing recommendation on that. There one thing that I’d say is constant, especially for clinical stage companies, probably even more so, is that change and having that basically ability to respond to change. So I think you implement those risk mitigations that I alluded to in the beginning, kind of cross different nodes of the supply chain, and the further you get down, probably the more safety stock you really need to implement on there. So I think that’s working with those clinical and commercial teams too, to identify safety stock levels that you may need for FDP or your final drug product. The same thing on the bulk drug substance of BDS side of things. But then even on the raw material ordering strategy, I’m sure most people are familiar with those safety stock levels. But that was kind of one of those immediate process improvements that we had to, that I wanted to implement as soon as we got our feet off the ground.
Andrew Buscemi [00:23:59]:
It’s okay. You know, we started up, we’ve built a facility in COVID. We’ve finally got everything that we need to run. It’s like, what do we need to do to make sure that we don’t get into a situation where we’re scrambling again? So, yeah, I mean, I guess the short answer to this is just an overall, you know, the first piece is just that synthesizing the demand that we’re given and how to respond to change, I think is just taking a very risk mitigation based approach. And a big piece of that is proper safety, stock level setting across the different supply nodes of the supply chain. And a lot of that can vary too, from what type of manufacturing process you have. If you have more of a platform process that’s a little bit more uniform across the board, bit easier for support supply chain to manage there. But if you’re running multiple products or molecules or whatever the case may be that have very different bill of materials, then it’s a bit more complex planning process then.
Andrew Buscemi [00:25:00]:
But one thing I’d advise is making sure you’re getting all your stakeholders in there and if people are signing off on the overall approach to mitigating that risk as much as you can.
Chris Frew [00:25:10]:
Yeah, yeah, I appreciate that. So John asked a follow up question on that a little bit. How much regulatory insight do you need in supply chain or as personnel? Do personnel need to know and have to know? Is there a lot of communication regarding, like, you know, the different NDA or MA filings and how does commercial supply chain influence or get involved when it comes to that?
Andrew Buscemi [00:25:41]:
The short answer is quite a bit. And the longer one is it really depends on the, the lifecycle of where your company is at that point in time. So for a more clinical stage company, if you’re still in kind of phase one and two, you’ve got quite a bit more flexibility to implement secondary suppliers, other process improvements in there. But once you’ve done a PPQ batch or you’re moving into kind of those phase three trials, those processes are really getting a bit more locked in there. And any changes are going to be part of, you know, amendment to an ind or a different, you know, piece of the BLA that may be filed for a more commercial organization. I would say supply chain is even close, more closely involved with that regulatory piece because you have the whole post approval change management process that needs to be implemented and that that can be a bit of a bear in how you manage that. A lot of techniques that I’ve seen are setting up multiple skus in your ERP system. So when you’re entering in those demand and building those manufacturing schedules that I talked about before.
Andrew Buscemi [00:26:56]:
You may have a universal SKU that can go to all markets, but maybe there’s some other process improvement that process development wants to put in to get higher yields. But obviously that will take some time with all the filings that need to happen on there. So maybe you get us approval first so you have a new SKU that really only be supplied to us at that point in time. And as it goes through to Canada, Japan, or what other approvals, you’re going through that. So, yeah, I think, again, kind of the short answer is for a clinical company, you’ve got a bit more flexibility on there, really, until that Bla gets filed. But for a commercial one, you’re going hand in hand and really getting down to that granular level of planning to saying this is the skus that we’re making, or the demand that can be supplied to this market and any changes that are going through there, we’re coordinating with regulatory and making sure that that proper post approval change management process is being followed.
Chris Frew [00:27:56]:
Yeah, yeah.
Andrew Buscemi [00:27:58]:
Making material for, even if you’ve got the, the supply there, but you can’t send it to that country because those, those changes that you used to make, that drug wasn’t fully vetted there.
Chris Frew [00:28:10]:
Yeah, that makes sense.
Andrew Buscemi [00:28:12]:
Good.
Chris Frew [00:28:12]:
Quite good question, John. I guess you mentioned ERP systems. Deepakumar asked, how well do you need to know ERP systems before being considered for a role or, you know, in, you know, in the field? I mean, can you talk about that a little bit?
Andrew Buscemi [00:28:32]:
Yeah, I mean, it’s definitely an integral piece to what we use every day. And running demand planning, not only taking that manufacturing schedule that we talked and then translating that through the bill of materials and having the system provide planning recommendations for materials that you need for manufacturing, maintaining safety, stock levels. So, yeah, having an understanding of them in general is definitely a critical aspect. I would say that a couple of the main ones being SAP, Oracle, things like that, there’s some other kind of more in house or proprietary ones. Having that general understanding of the framework of how they work, I think is more important when applying or moving into a new role than knowing that specific system itself. That’s something, at least for me. When I’m looking to hire people for my team, I can teach that type of things. Those are skills that can be learned.
Andrew Buscemi [00:29:36]:
I’m more looking for that type of open attitude and the willingness to learn new things. And again, getting back to what we’re talking about before, I may not be totally comfortable about this, but, you know, I can look at this as a learning opportunity to build those skills. So again, if a company says they’re using, you know, SAP and you’ve got great SAP experience, that’s, you know, a gold star there to help you along with the process. But at the same point in time, if you know, you don’t know that and that’s the system that they’re using. I would never look at that as something to say, I don’t think we’d be able to move forward with this role just because of that. So I wouldn’t let that discourage anybody from. For moving forward with position that looks good otherwise.
Chris Frew [00:30:18]:
Yeah. And, well, building on top of that, Andrew, like, is there any advice you’d have? We got deep. Also commented about the challenge of getting into a supply chain role at a manager level and up, especially if you don’t have the exact experience, but you’ve got supply chain experience from like, collaborating with supply chain teams, maybe you’re coming from another department. So again, like, you know, if you’ve worked closely with supply chain, understand it, but have not been in supply chain role, any, any recommendations or thoughts on how you would recommend someone approach that?
Andrew Buscemi [00:31:02]:
Yeah, I mean, I think that there’s a lot of different, again, supply chain touches a lot of different pieces. So we work closely with procurement here, but procurement is a different functional group. So if you are coming from a procurement role, I think there’s a lot of lessons and aspects that you see of those workings that can be applied. And I think that’s something to highlight when you’re talking to a prospective hiring company. We talked on certifications and stuff before. Those obviously can’t hurt and give you a bit more of a background depending on how distant your current role may have been from supply chain as well. But I think highlighting some of those skills that we talked about before and the process management, the ability to respond to change and other things that’s going to really apply to any company when they’re looking for any roles but supply chain as well too, for, for how many functional groups that we touch on that.
Chris Frew [00:32:04]:
Yeah.
Andrew Buscemi [00:32:05]:
So again, kind of similar with the ERP experience. If you don’t have direct experience in the specific role that you’re looking for, I would just think of how some other situations that you’ve been in in your current role have showed how that you’ve tackled problems, helped to pull in different stakeholders and functional groups to, to meet goals on there. Cause that’s, you know, at the end of the day that’s. We’re all working towards the same thing on here. So.
Chris Frew [00:32:35]:
Yeah, yeah. And I wanna highlight also, like you said earlier, networking and, you know, really kind of building out your network within industry. Cause again, my experience when you are switching, switching departments or roles, I mean, or just even jobs in general, like, you know, the idea, it’s like this in sales, right. You know, no matter what, you could have the best product and you could be a great fit for the role where I could have the best product for a customer. But you need a champion who’s going to be like, hey, let’s give this a shot, especially in like ours where there is a lot of general risk mitigation around everything.
Andrew Buscemi [00:33:13]:
Yeah, I agree. I wish I could have a magic wand to this and to keep this question a bit more. I mean, those manager levels and higher can be a little. A bit more difficult because they have a bit more rigor into there. So that’s where I would say just to be open to other things that may be ancillary to that. Again, speaking about the materials management piece or anything else, you know, and getting your foot in the door how you can, and then you may have a more direct line to that exact role that you were looking for in the long run. So, yeah, I would just say be open to possibilities. And as you mentioned, Chris, kind of leveraging those connections that you have because, I mean, you can do all the right things, check all the right boxes, but at the end of the day there, you know, there’s a little bit of just, you need the break to get to come your way.
Andrew Buscemi [00:34:02]:
That always said, luck is the residue of desire, though. So, you know, if you put in the time in, I think eventually good things are going to happen.
Chris Frew [00:34:12]:
It’s a great quote. I like that. Well, as we, as we start to get towards our wrap up here, Andrew, maybe you could think a bit, a little bit about the industry and where it’s going. So do you have any thoughts on where you see the most growth or kind of trends in the industry?
Andrew Buscemi [00:34:33]:
Yeah, I guess a lot of my experience over the last four years here at REGENXBIO has really been driven for standing up our internal manufacturing in a COVID world. And I think it’s what is. How has that changed how supply chain and logistics look moving forward? And I think it’s kind of forced a lot of companies into really focusing on risk mitigation and how are we protecting our supply to eventually ensure that we’re able to provide product to that patient at the end of the supply chain. I know biotech in an industry is obviously risk mitigation is a huge aspect for everything, but I think it’s been extended even more around just the quality, the basic quality piece and extending to all processes around the company, which is what I’ve seen. So I think, again, that’s a bit more focused on where we’re at in our lifecycle here. But as a general industry trend, I think cell and gene therapy, which you touched on before, is an exciting field to be in. I got my start in the mad side of things and very learning a lot on the CGT side. There’s a lot of lessons that could be gleaned from the previous one, but yeah, just the different processes on here as well.
Andrew Buscemi [00:36:05]:
So.
Chris Frew [00:36:07]:
I had somebody once I heard, and this was at a conference, they said, you know, the self modern cell therapy companies supply chain operates more like that kind of original dell computer model than it does traditional large batch maps, you know.
Andrew Buscemi [00:36:28]:
Yeah, no, and I could see that too. And a lot of that also is just how companies set up their manufacturing too. Because if you have a stainless facility where you have that equipment there, that’s just kind of being cip’d and clean and everything from batch to batch versus setting up a single use facility, it’s going to completely just change the way that your supply chain is driven overall. So those are two different areas where I had to do a lot of learning, kind of switching it to the new side here and coming into a different way to approach those things and again, implementing those processes to make sure that we’re not at risk of not having what we need to be able to run when we need to.
Chris Frew [00:37:10]:
Yeah, you mentioned something else in terms of kind of trends, you said, but like the kind of quality culture, you know, that seems to be a trend, you mentioned it, that just really baking quality into everything. I can imagine that’s a huge part of your role or a huge part of your focus is quality management and.
Andrew Buscemi [00:37:32]:
Yeah, no, it really is. And I think those are, those are the companies that are really doing the right thing the right way. You know, a lot, I’d say all of us are in this industry because it’s engaging, but at the end of the day, it feels good to be helping people and feeling like what we do matters. So bringing these medicines to patients at the end of the supply chain that, you know, potentially change their life, it only works if we’re doing it in the right way and making those decisions on a day to day process, I know sometimes it’s hard when you’re getting bogged down by the minutiae or you’re having a crazy day or week and stuff. But I like the fact that at both locations that I’ve worked at, they like to bring it back to that patient focus attitude that we have on here by whether that’s at quarterly meetings, having some patients come in and see that or see what the effect of our work is actually having in the real world for families out there, I think keeping that in mindset on a day to day basis and keeping that quality aspect in mind as well, too, is critical for the success of the company. And I think that the good ones are really focusing on that. And that’s what I’ve seen the two I’ve been at.
Chris Frew [00:38:52]:
Yeah, that’s great. Well, I think it’s a great way to end things. At the end of the day, it does always come back to the patients, and that’s why we’re all, we’re all working here and is ultimately to get, to get product out to, you know, to the patient and change a life or save a life. Any, any closing thoughts? Last, last sales pitch on why you should join Andrew in an exciting career in supply chain logistics.
Andrew Buscemi [00:39:23]:
I think you summed it up. It is an exciting career. It’s rarely dull. You touch on so many aspects of the business. Again, I’ve touched on quality and the materials management side, but engineering facilities, manufacturing, you have a piece in all that stuff. So, yeah, I highly recommend, again, seeing if your company has either looking into mentoring roles or just enter department lunch alerts, which we try and do as well, too, just to spread that knowledge. But, yeah, keep focusing on your network. You know, you never know who’s got it in somewhere on there.
Andrew Buscemi [00:40:04]:
But, yeah, that’s about it. Chris, that sounds good.
Chris Frew [00:40:09]:
Well, it’s a great way to wrap up. Andrew, I really appreciate all your time today and the insights you shared. Hopefully, there’s less people asking that question now, like what goes on in supply chain and logistics? And, and again, of course, this, this program will live, live on BioBuzz in our career center, so people will be able to access this. And, you know, you’re, you’re on LinkedIn. Correct. So that’s when it comes to networking. That’s probably one of the first places a lot of people start. So feel free to reach out to Andrew LinkedIn, but just keep in mind he’s busy, so he’s juggling a big organization.
Chris Frew [00:40:46]:
But Andrew, this is great. Thank you so much for your time today. We really appreciate it. And contributing to the community that we’re trying to really build and to future careers.
Andrew Buscemi [00:40:56]:
Yes, indeed. No. Thanks again for the invite, Chris. It’s been a pleasure. Have a good one, everyone.
Chris Frew [00:41:00]:
All right, thank you. Take care. Bye.
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