Looking for Healthcare product integrity and competitive cold chain logistics services in South Africa?
Your guide to expert pharmaceutical and healthcare supply chain temperature controlled logistics
Temperature monitoring in pharmaceutical supply chains is increasingly important to all stakeholders. Patients take comfort in knowing the medicine they are taking is safe. Pharmacists and other health workers are satisfied the medicine they are dispensing meets required professional standards. For manufacturers, there are a host of advantages, from ensuring the integrity of the product to building efficient, and financially competitive, supply chain processes.
Transporting sensitive product
Traditionally, transporting your pharmaceuticals has relied heavily on packaging to keep product safe and within prescribed temperature parameters. However, supply chains have become more complex over time as safety demands increasingly must coexist with cost and time pressures. The introduction of the Good Distribution Practice (GDP) by the European Union in 2013 added yet more layers to the complexity. GDP requires medicines to be obtained from a licensed supply chain and then stored, transported and handled under stipulated conditions.
A specialized airport transit hub – DSV Cold
The combination of these circumstances has significantly increased your need for specialist cold supply chain solutions – and the introduction of DSV Cold, our world class, GDP compliant airside handling facility at OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg, takes temperature protection to a new level.
DSV Cold is used exclusively for your pharmaceutical and healthcare products, and offers a secure, door-to-door service with global visibility which meets the highest standards of in-transit handling and temperature-controlled storage in one of three chambers –
2-8 degrees, 15-25 degrees and -15 to -25 degrees.
Your products are drawn from airlines or agents within a limited timeframe to mitigate the risk of temperature excursions from either tarmac or fluctuating season temperatures.
Security
You need comprehensive security processes to get your product through the supply chain and into the hands of the end user. Product integrity, regulatory compliance and shipment security should be considered before speed or mode of transportation, and dedicated trucks, split shipments, expedited services and direct routes minimize vulnerable touch points and dwell time.
GPS is widely used to track high-value shipments by placing units on or in the trailer itself, and the more advanced geofencing technology helps track loads in mid-shipment. Route planning in conjunction with GPS tracking allows trucks to avoid high traffic areas, and knowledgeable ground teams provide additional insight to drivers, so they avoid potentially high-risk situations.
DSV Cold has security guards, surveillance cameras and access control, and the site is within the (airside) parameters of a national key point. Risk is further mitigated by carrier and lane risk assessment, healthcare specific SOPs and working instructions, specialised healthcare training of all DSV personnel and the use of IATA product labels.
Insurance
Your shipments can be difficult to insure as they are typically high in value and sensitivity. We understand what’s needed to deliver your product safely, and we offer insurance cover to limit risk – and we tailor the cover to suit your profile.
Temperature monitoring
You need sophisticated temperature-controlled vehicles, air containers and ocean containers to ensure your sensitive pharmaceutical product is kept temperature compliant, no matter how long the journey.
Our specifically designed refrigerated vehicles ensure your product is compliant all the way. Traffic, delayed flights, improper customs paperwork and unpredictable weather conditions are among the variables that could lengthen transport times and challenge temperature compliance.
Vehicles are equipped with continuous temperature monitoring and a data logging system, and we recommend retrievable temperature loggers are packed within the shipped product to further verify temperature compliance during conveyance. DSV provides data loggers, and vehicle temperature data, upon request.
Training
Employee training is critical, and covers a range of risky scenarios, from responding to a sudden drop or spike in vehicle temperature or a suspicious looking vehicle. All relevant employees are trained on the GDP principles, requirements and guidelines.
Trust
Cold chain pharmaceuticals need highly specialised and compliant networks to move product efficiently while protecting integrity. More than that, you need consistency, reliability and passion from your supply chain partner to build the trust needed to develop deep, mutually beneficial relationships. In fact, we maintain a highly comprehensive Pharma Quality Management System, and ask you to sign up to the code of conduct to help build a shared commitment to temperature control.
Technology
End to end supply chain temperature control requires 24/7 temperature monitoring capabilities. Live monitoring of each chamber helps avoid temperature deviations while products are in transit or warehoused at DSV Cold.
Peace of mind
As a specialist cold supply chain service provider, we devote quality time to tailoring solutions to fit your unique handling and transportation requirements. Our brokerage services include a comprehensive network of qualified and compliant cold chain facilities and we commit to exceptional service with every transaction.
Your supply chain needs tailored solutions. We understand there’s no “one size fits all”. We harness our expertise, systems and technology to deliver the temperature-controlled supply chain you need. It’s our “peace of mind” guarantee to you.
Any questions?
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