The advancing technology of robotics has emerged as a cornerstone in the world of modern pharma, supporting industry leaders with accurate prescriptions, increased efficiencies, reduced downtime, and streamlined processes. Industry research forecasts the global pharmaceutical robots market size expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.7% from 2023 to 2030.
It is therefore important that pharma leaders to prioritize robotics skills and competencies across hiring and recruitment campaigns in anticipation of the automated landscape. MRI Network highlights the top robotics trends in hiring within the pharma industry to help your company adapt to changing demands and their collective impact.
Innovative Strategies Needed in Attracting Data Analysts
Robotics technology enables pharma companies to generate, collate, and monitor operational data with improved efficiencies. Robotic capabilities in managing repetitive tasks provide companies with cost-effective solutions for anticipating and responding to industry trends. These analytical segments include capital raising, anticipating hiring trends, and market size forecasts.
Pharma companies need to attract valuable robotics talent with a hiring and recruitment strategy that promotes a meaningful or purposeful career pathway. Doing so helps pharma companies attract talent away from tech and finance companies that generally offer higher-paying wages.
Large-scale Robotic Integrations With Ease of Use
Market research suggests that robotic technology could become increasingly user-friendly, making it more accessible to the workforce without requiring specialized expertise. As such, more pharma companies may integrate robotic capabilities across a broad range of task management that enhances overall productivity.
Pharma companies may prioritize hiring/recruitment and training initiatives aimed at preparing production line employees for scalable and modular production systems. The rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) could help automate and simplify robotics deployment, making production systems more accessible to workers who lack robotics expertise.
Recent industry figures show an 11.35% month-over-month (MoM) spike in active robotics-related job postings in the global pharmaceuticals sector. The numbers could increase in the coming months and into 2024 with greater accessibility to robotics technology.
Improved Efficiency With Mobile Robots
Mobile robotic technology enables pharma companies to gain a competitive advantage through reliability, flexibility, and convenience. These mobile solutions can help maintain regulatory compliances, adapt to customized production needs, and reduce the time-to-market through optimized handling of repetitive tasks across multiple pharma operations.
With drugs requiring an average of 5-10 years and 1-3 billion USD for drug approval, leveraging the efficiencies of mobile robotics could boost product delivery and prevent the issues of demand shortages.
Active hiring and training of a workforce skilled in mobile robotics could lead to a significant productivity boost for pharma organizations. Specifically, workers with mobile robotics competencies have versatile skill sets that they can apply across multiple applications, from initial logistics to end-of-line operations.
Enhanced Safety and Quality Practices
Fully automatic tracking of robotics operations provides pharma companies with the capabilities of maintaining optimal safety, health, and environmental care standards. Through robotic handling, pharma teams can also reduce or eliminate the risk of contamination to achieve optimized production. These include barrier systems and grade-A environments that lack barriers.
Similarly, the systematic functionalities of robotics enable teams to detect the slightest packaging flaws and imperfections. Consistent robotic measures can assist pharma production teams in ensuring accurate dosages and hygiene throughout the production line without risking product safety and quality. Essentially, a robotics-supported workforce could serve as the solution that prevents costly product recalls, where Industry leaders like Johnson and Johnson have lost approximately $600 million in sales (on top of reputational damage) upon closing their distribution site.
Optimized Outpatient Experiences
The latest robotics technology has provided newfound conveniences at the forefront of the patient experience. For instance, novel robotics solutions such as the outpatient pharmacy automation system (OPAS) automate various processes that streamline and expedite outpatient experiences. The OPAS provides effortless handling of sorting, packing, assembling, and dispensing a variety of drugs through a complete end-to-end system. These advanced robotics systems also operate with user-friendly software, providing accountability for the entire prescription filling process. The deployment of robotic systems like OPAS removes repetitive tasks from the duties of frontline staff. These systematic robotic schedules help to reduce pharmacy waiting times while avoiding drug safety issues (i.e., wrong dosages) that may arise from human error. Gradually, pharma teams would have more time dedicated to offering accurate medication management and overseeing the highest standards of patient care.