Better visibility and increasing supply chain flexibility remain important trends in the pharmaceutical and medical industry. They are essential for ensuring product safety and integrity. They allow for the creation of more efficient, demand-driven supply chains and enable the industry to meet new regulatory standards as well as requirements for the distribution of innovative products. At the same time, they point to the growing importance of managing the logistics process and outsourcing in this highly sensitive industry.
These trends, first identified in last year’s DHL study “Essential Logistics Trends in the Pharmaceutical Sector 2020+”, were reaffirmed by participants of the DHL “Global Life Sciences & Healthcare Conference 2014”, which took place this summer in Shanghai. It was attended by over 170 representatives of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies and medical equipment manufacturers.
In addition to conducting its own research and surveys, DHL actively engages in an intensive dialogue with customers from the medical sector. The resulting in-depth industry knowledge allows the logistics service provider to develop reliable and flexible solutions and to act as a global, committed partner to the pharmaceutical and medical industry.
– By developing customized and innovative logistics services, we enable our customers to adapt to complex future market challenges today – says Angelos Orfanos, President of Life Sciences and Healthcare, DHL Customer Solutions & Innovation.
In the latest customer survey, three-quarters of companies in the pharmaceutical and medical sector confirmed the importance of better visibility for supply chains designed in a more flexible way. At the same time, from the customer’s point of view, three additional core theses of the 2013 DHL study have become important: (1) 58% of respondents believe that greater differentiation of supply chains by product category is a very significant trend (2013: 48%); (2) geographical expansion of logistics capabilities to tier 2 and tier 3 cities and rural areas was considered particularly important by 31% of respondents (2013: 24%); (3) one-fifth of those surveyed believe that developing own-brand e-shops and distribution channels for the end customer is quite important (2013: 13%). The survey results also included a ranking of issues considered priorities by the sector. The four issues at the very top of the list were temperature-controlled/cold chain supply, access and development in emerging markets, and compliance with regulatory requirements.
Thanks to a dedicated pharmaceutical and medical sector unit, DHL is in an excellent position to meet the increasingly difficult requirements of its customers through innovative products and services. To date, successfully implemented projects include, among others, DHL Thermonet, which offers seamless temperature visibility along the entire supply chain, DHL Medical Express for the urgent transport of medical or biological products, and DHL Recall Solution, which allows for the effective management of sensitive product recall campaigns.