Ahead of this year's Temperature Control and Logistics Summit 2022, we spoke exclusively to Ruud van der Geer, Associate Director Global Delivery Strategy Team – EMEA Product Handling at MSD. Here he discusses the increased risks and mitigation strategies for product excursions, the biggest challenges in temperature excursions and the advances in real-time monitoring, to transform the industry’s current capabilities and better serve patient populations.

Increased risk and mitigation strategies for product excursions in the supply chain

The industry has been able to increasingly mitigate risk by implementing digital logistics programmes based on real-time monitoring and cloud-based solutions, with integrated intervention programmes. This means that companies can be warned of a potential risk and intervene. It also provides lead-time visibility for shipments with estimated times of arrival that are updated based on delays, so that customers can be informed on the exact whereabouts of their incoming shipments and proactively respond. At a larger scale these digital platforms provide tools for Lane Risk Assessments and planning integration.

Current regulation focuses a lot on static qualifying systems, and the data collected during qualification can often be different from what is observed in real life. When there is 100% visibility, detectability, and control over a shipment, should there be such a focus on qualification to mitigate risk in the supply chain? I understand that there are risk mitigation strategies required for non-monitored shipments, but there is also a need for a more agile process that can mitigate risk and provide flexibility and responsiveness.

Biggest temperature excursion challenges and solutions

One challenge is that you may never be able to identify which shipment has a temperature excursion. Therefore, it is critical to ensure complete visibility, detectability, and control over shipments in real-time, providing a window of opportunity to intervene.

In addition, it is important to focus on a proactive response to temperature deviations, and share relevant information with the ecosystem, such as customers, internal stakeholders, and health authorities. With increased visibility over shipments, pharmaceutical companies can now be alerted before critical events occur, provide the ecosystem with more detail about relevant shipments and tailor this information to the specific user, which is very relevant when communicating temperature excursions that could have a significant impact on the supply chain.

The emphasis on temperature excursions in the news and media is greater now than it was two or three years ago, and this increased exposure has meant that pharmaceutical companies can no longer tolerate even the smallest of temperature excursions.

The need to remain compliant is the biggest challenge, rather than the ability to manage risk. Sometimes, you cannot effectively and efficiently manage the risk of a temperature excursion because you need to be compliant. The pandemic has proven that pharmaceutical companies can operate in a more flexible and agile way, if regulation allows, without compromising risk to the product.

Reducing temperature excursions with real-time monitoring

Real-time monitoring can provide high levels of visibility over shipments and give companies the advantage of being able to intervene with shipments, if necessary. This tool enables companies to perform investigations, determine risks, as well as mitigate lane risks and events that impact global supply chains in (near) real-time.

Advances in real-time monitoring are making a huge difference, with many companies saving thousands or even millions of doses of product, which would otherwise have been discarded because of temperature excursions.

It also provides the business intelligence to further optimise up- and downstream supply chain processes, streamline insurance processes and improve negotiation positions. In addition, cloud-based and real-time monitoring can enable data sharing across the industry and beyond, using blockchain technologies, to improve the pharmaceutical supply chain and better serve customers and patients.

Want to learn more about how to resolve your temperature excursions?

Join the world’s industry experts on 7th – 9th June at Crowne Plaza Düsseldorf in Neuss, Düsseldorf to overcome the biggest challenges in temperature excursions, transform the industry’s current capabilities and better serve patient populations, at the Temperature Control Logistics Summit 2022.

To download the full interview click here.

For more free content visit our library.

                                                  DOWNLOAD THE AGENDA