Serialization Platform Regrets? Why Pharma Companies Are Switching

Experiencing Buyer’s Remorse with Your Serialization Platform? Many Other Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Supply Chain Partners Are Too

Many pharmaceutical manufacturers, wholesalers, and 3PLs are discovering that their serialization and traceability platform is struggling to support real supply chain operations at scale. LSPedia is here to help.

For manufacturers, wholesalers, and 3PLs, product traceability compliance is now part of daily supply chain activity. Serialized product data, EPCIS transaction volumes, and exception handling now sit directly inside business workflows. Systems responsible for these processes must perform reliably and at-scale.

Many companies first selected a track-and-trace solution during earlier compliance efforts, when the primary objective was meeting regulatory deadlines and enabling serialized data exchange. The priority was connecting with trading partners, establishing EPCIS data exchange, and meeting traceability requirements across the supply chain.

Now that these environments operate at full scale, the landscape has changed. Transaction volumes have increased, partner connections have expanded, and exception handling has become a routine activity rather than a future consideration.

As traceability systems move from implementation into long-term use, some organizations are noticing limitations that were not obvious during deployment. Across the industry, several common challenges are starting to emerge.

Common Platform Challenges

As traceability technology moves into full production use, manufacturers, wholesalers, and 3PLs are reporting several recurring system challenges.

1. Declining support after deployment

Many organizations report that vendor responsiveness is strong during implementation but has become less accessible once systems are fully operational. As environments move into daily use, response times may increase, and access to experienced technical staff can become more limited, leaving internal teams to manage many issues on their own.

2. Escalation bottlenecks when issues arise

When transaction failures or integration problems occur, supply chain and IT teams may struggle to move issues quickly through the vendor's escalation process. Without clear escalation paths or specialized expertise, restoring normal system performance can take longer than expected.

3. Additional costs for advanced assistance

Some companies discover that faster response times or deeper technical help require upgraded service tiers or additional fees. These unexpected costs inflate the total cost of ownership and can make it harder to resolve system problems quickly.

4. ERP and WMS integration failures

Traceability solutions do not operate in isolation. Serialized product data and EPCIS transactions must move cleanly between compliance infrastructure and enterprise environments such as ERP and WMS systems. When integrations are fragile or poorly designed, teams spend time troubleshooting message failures, reconciling data discrepancies, and manually intervening when exchanges break down.

5. L4 workflow strain

Traceability infrastructure must process large volumes of serialized transaction data and partner exchanges. When technology is not built for this level of throughput, processing slows and queues begin to build. Internal teams may then have to step in to resolve delays that should have been handled automatically.

6. Exception management burden

Exception handling is one of the most commonly underestimated parts of traceability programs. Missing data, mismatched transactions, delayed partner responses, and validation errors can quickly accumulate. Without strong exception management tools, organizations often handle these issues manually just to keep supply chain activity moving.

7. High system cost and complexity

Some track-and-trace environments require significant infrastructure, licensing, and ongoing management. Organizations may end up paying for complex systems while still struggling with the workflows that matter most. This creates both financial and operational inefficiencies.

8. System uptime

System stability is critical when traceability processes are embedded in supply chain workflows. When outages or performance problems occur, serialized data exchange can stop, product movement may be delayed, and compliance processes can be disrupted across the organization.

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Considering a Switch?

Moving to a different traceability system may seem complicated. However, many pharmaceutical manufacturers, wholesalers, and 3PLs have found the transition to LSPedia is far easier than expected.

Visit our Switch to OneScan page to see how the process works.

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