Basic Pharma
What customers say – Basic Pharma
In 2020, pharmaceutical company Basic Pharma from Geleen issued a tender for the packaging of nasal sprays. After several tender rounds, De Budelse came out on top and was awarded the contract to print a certain amount of packaging for each order. ‘As companies of a similar size, we fit well together’, says purchasing manager Jan-Joris Mertens enthusiastically. ‘We want to be of value to each other, and that works very well.’
As a pharmaceutical company, Basic Pharma mainly focuses on the development, production and sale of generic medicines. The company is located on the Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Geleen. From this hotspot for innovative companies, over one hundred employees provide a full range of services for various pharmaceutical products and services. ‘Each product group is composed of a number of specialists’, continues Jan-Joris Mertens. ‘My colleagues take care of development, printing and operational matters. For the past year and a half, I’ve been responsible within the team for the purchasing of packaging materials and raw materials.’
Knowledge of packaging
Based on the experiences of a colleague’s previous development projects, Jan-Joris Mertens has come to know De Budelse fairly well. Basic Pharma launched a tender for the packaging of nasal sprays. 11 companies received invitations to submit tenders. This also included a number of international companies because logistics is likely to play an important role. ‘Price plays a decisive role in such tenders’, explains the experienced procurement manager. ‘However, it is also very important to us that a supplier knows what is involved in pharmaceutical product packaging.’
‘De Budelse is a perfect extension of our own supply chain’
Quality check
After the first round, 3 suppliers remained. De Budelse was one of the lucky companies to receive a visit from Basic Pharma for a quality check on location. ‘A company visit is important to get a good feel for the supplier’, explains Jan-Joris Mertens. If you look at everything covered in a tender, De Budelse has a clear edge. But of course we also like to see the business processes up close and get answers to crucial questions about order management, good manufacturing practices (GMPs) and delivery. After all, the transition from an existing to a new supplier should be as smooth as possible.’
Transitioning quickly
Basic Pharma made a conscious choice for De Budelse as its supplier of nasal spray packaging. Ultimately, the international nature of the supplier does not play a major role. ‘De Budelse speaks our language, knows the Dutch culture of entrepreneurship and is situated locally’, Jan-Joris Mertens emphasises. This is much more important when it comes to transitioning quickly. De Budelse guaranteed that our machines could process the boxes well. And they could meet the agreed delivery times and ordered quantities. Basic Pharma works based on the make-to-orderprinciple. So it is crucial that we meet the agreements we have with our customers. This is one of Basic Pharma’s greatest strengths.’
Clear agreements
Our collaboration with De Budelse is excellent! Jan-Joris Mertens jokingly says that he has little contact with account manager Ben Vossen. In his estimation, that’s a good sign. Of course, clear agreements were made in the beginning about the loading of pallets and the delivery of samples for quality control. ‘In practice, De Budelse is a perfect extension of our supply chain’, concludes Jan-Joris Mertens. ‘We will certainly continue our cooperation into the future. De Budelse is also an excellent partner for small print runs. They have everything. They also print leaflets, and insert them in the packaging. Basic Pharma needs a partner like that.’