LogiPharma USA 2025: Balancing AI and Human Connection in Pharma Supply Chains

Author(s):

Key Takeaways

AI integration in supply chains must balance with maintaining human connections and trust with partners.
Bayer's digital culture is essential for successful AI adoption, requiring changes in mindset and processes.
Digital transformation involves digitization, digitalization, and developing new business applications.
Human relationships and trust remain critical in AI-enhanced supply chains, emphasizing transparency and collaboration.

Bayer’s Luiz Barberini highlights how artificial intelligence is transforming supply chain operations, while emphasizing the irreplaceable value of trust, transparency, and human relationships.

Image Credit: Nicholas Saraceno

There is no doubt the AI has been a buzzword here at LogiPharma USA, and for good reason.

It’s being implemented in daily supply chain operations among other uses, but it’s also important to note that maintaining the human connection is just as valuable. In a morning keynote during day 3 of the conference, Luiz Barberini, Bayer’s operations manager, external manufacturing, Latin America, presented on “Relationship Management and the AI Inclusion: The Human Factor.”¹

Bayer’s goals for AI integration in supply chain management

The main goals of Barberini’s presentation was to:

Provide a status as to where Bayer is at in terms of integrating AI into supply chain processes
Share strategies that the company uses to maintain transparency, trust, and collaboration with external partners in an AI-enhanced ecosystem
Outline the role of human interaction and communication
Offer tips on improving supplier performance

For context, Bayer has over 6,000 products, and eight Latin American suppliers that contributed $30 million to the market. 1.6 billion individuals use the company’s products on a daily basis. It’s powered by four main pillars:

People and culture
Customer value
Customer trust
Competitiveness

Even beyond those pillars, proper management of networks, suppliers, and our partners is also critical.

Fast facts

6,000+ products in Bayer’s global portfolio
1.6 billion people use Bayer products daily
Four pillars of strategy: People & culture, customer value, customer trust, competitiveness
Digital roadmap focus: Virtual connect, visibility, automation, advanced automation
AI insight: “Supply chain is about people, process, and technology” — Luiz Barberini

Digital culture as the foundation of AI adoption

From a technology aspect, Bayer has created a complex road map—featuring virtual connect, visibility, automation, and advanced automation—but Barberini argued that digital culture is the headliner.

“One of the most important things that we have here is the digital culture. We have to change our culture into something digital,” he said. “We have to change the way we think, our processes, our methodologies, and the way that we do our business. If you don't start thinking like that, things are not going to work.”

Steps toward digital transformation in pharma supply chains

In order to get to that point, there are certain steps that ought to be followed including:

Digitization: A concept dating back to 1947 that involves making information available via digital format (from analog to digital)
Digitalization: Thinking about how to best apply digitized info to simplify operations
Digital transformation: Powered by a process of creating new business applications that integrate all the digitized data, along with digitalized applications.

“We have a lot of things to consider when talking about artificial intelligence, so it's not one tool that can be used for everything,” Barberini explained. “We must understand what it can give us in terms of how to manage our processes and our people. Remember, supply chain is about people, process and technology.”

Why human relationships still matter in the age of AI

It’s all about establishing, building, and maintaining relationships with suppliers, while also incorporating the human/personal touch. After all, trust—with the help of proper communication—is something that is built up with the help of transparency, honesty and sincere collaboration.

“We need to have a relationship with our suppliers, within our companies, while also considering the human aspect. We have to view the relationship with our suppliers and with our other companies, he added.”

This is indeed a challenge but one I think pharma stakeholders will be up for.

Reference

1. Barberini L. Relationship Management and the AI Inclusion: The Human Factor. October 1, 2025. LogiPharma USA 2025. Boston.

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