Millions of people around the world rely on the life sciences industry, and the industries it comprises – pharmaceuticals, health and personal care, biotech, and others – for critical, lifesaving goods. So, it should come as no surprise that it’s one of the most tightly regulated industries. And with regulation comes near infinite supply chain complications.
For instance, while many products can be stored and shipped under normal conditions and temperatures, others, especially goods manufactured by life sciences companies, depend on a specific cold chain – for example, BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine, which requires a temperature between -60° and -80° Celsius. For very sensitive products, environmental conditions including humidity, light, shock, pressure, vibration, and X-rays must also be tightly controlled during transportation by truck, train, ship or air freight.
Regulatory compliance further complicates matters. For example, certain narcotics and raw materials must have a dangerous goods classification. And in health and personal care specifically, where some companies are moving into last mile services in which they serve end customers directly, there are further challenges still.
Supply Chain Success Factors
Several factors go into mastering the challenges of complex supply chains. In addition to forward-looking procurement and planning to ensure proper inventory and margins, companies should strive for agility and visibility into all areas of the supply chain. This includes the cooperation of all parties involved including logistics, marketing, sales, legal and quality assurance.
Above all, companies need validated solutions and supply chain management systems that ensure accuracy, reliability, and control.
How project44 Delivers for the Life Sciences Industry
project44 provides thousands of companies worldwide with the most advanced visibility platform. With project44, organization can:
- Proactively handle disruptions with predictive shipment insights
- Track the temperature and condition of shipments to avoid spoilage
- Monitor shipments at the lot level to ensure quality and minimize risk
- Securely manage data sharing throughout the supply chain
- Improve transit time accuracy and reduce transit time variability
Regulations create the need to better manage the “chain of custody” between partners that are integral in the supply chain – forwarders and 3PLS, ports and terminals, and more. project44’s platforms can collect and normalize data across these partners to track hand offs, address latency and gaps in the data flow and enable real-time opportunity to incorporate more proactive decision-making processes across day-to-day operational activities. All this adds up to a reduction in expedited fees, smoother supply chains, and an overall better customer experience.
Successful supply chain management is always a challenge in today’s world – and even more so in a highly regulated environment like life sciences. Advanced visibility is a must when it comes to creating a supply chain that not only delivers, but delights.