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Logistics management Group News Editor Jeff Berman recently caught up with Wes Wheeler, president of UPS Healthcare, the Atlanta-based global freight and logistics services subsidiary of UPS. Wheeler provided insight into various aspects of UPS Healthcare’s service segments, including: the impact of the pandemic on cold chain and cold storage logistics; lessons learned from the pandemic; and the impact of global trade on the cold chain and global supply chains, among others. The interview follows below.
Logistics Management (LM): How would you describe the biggest differences in the logistics cold chain from the beginning of the pandemic to today? What were the biggest changes and shifts and what were the key steps that UPS Healthcare took to cope?
Wheeler: COVID has certainly changed most of what we now know about the cold chain, especially when it comes to logistics. It was only a little over two years ago that the world’s reliance and awareness of the cold chain grew and changed its trajectory forever. Today, UPS Healthcare has rapidly accelerated its innovative approaches around cold chain logistics. This was particularly evident in the delivery of the COVID vaccine, as many vaccines had to be kept below -70 degrees C to remain stable and usable. UPS Healthcare was one of the first organizations to offer its services for fast, efficient, safe and effective delivery of COVID vaccines worldwide.
In the past few years, UPS Healthcare has invested in over 36,000 m2 of GMP cold chain refrigerators and freezers that can support drug storage at ambient temperatures down to minus 80°C, and ten new or upgraded facilities across Europe, Asia, and the US. We have also delivered more than 1.5 billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to more than 110 countries with an on-time performance of 99.8% per day, and have continued to grow and expand our various logistics and cold chain capabilities to our global customers. health care. . To support this expansion, we recently announced a new cold chain facility in Dublin, Ireland, coming online next year to deliver next-generation biologics, critical vaccines and vital medical devices to patients around the world.
Logistics Management (LM): What are the biggest logistical “lessons” that have come out of the pandemic, regarding transportation and logistics processes related to vaccine distribution efforts?
Wheeler: Over the past few years, we have clearly learned that the need for flexibility, transparency and shipment integrity is imperative in cold chains and total supply chains. From the pandemic onwards, we have had to learn how to overcome challenges, take risks and open up to new and unconventional ways of doing business. When the pandemic became widespread, we went into overdrive, determining our next step, adapting and shaping the company and our business goals to meet the needs of our customers and patients around the world. We quickly re-prioritized our upcoming initiatives and focused our plans on vaccine deliveries and deliveries, carefully planning every step of the logistics and distribution process.
The pandemic has also shown us the need to improve our overall infrastructure to support the future of the healthcare industry. As a result, we have expanded our networks and expanded our relationships to partner with companies and organizations around the world, which have had a fundamental impact in different regions around the world in terms of vaccine delivery. To date, we have supported over 118 countries in the COVID-19 relief effort, providing people, supplies and infrastructure where they are needed most. For example, over the past two years, we’ve worked with various organizations to deliver nearly 1.5 million doses of the COVID vaccine via drone to underrepresented populations, as well as rural and remote communities. These efforts have an immediate impact on health equity, and the health infrastructure in place will benefit people for decades to come.
Logistics Management (LM): Where do you see the cold chain logistics market in, say, three to five years?
The cold chain market has been growing steadily over the past five years and is projected to grow another 25% over the next few years, reaching $21.3 billion in 2024. As the pandemic continues to reshape the industry and accelerate the need for more cold chain infrastructure, I see new product innovations in large molecule biologics driving the need for temperature-controlled logistics, and I predict that other new, innovative, technology-driven automation, including robotics, will play a huge role in the expansion and growth of supply/cold chain in the years to come.
As cold chain drugs and biologics continue to grow at a rapid pace, they will highlight the future need for more deep-frozen and cryogenic storage. A variety of technologies will allow users to know when stock products are replenished, improve retrieval accuracy, and help deliver sensitive biologics to patients when they need them and at their convenience. For these reasons, I predict that companies and healthcare organizations will continue to build more sophisticated capabilities in cold chain logistics.
Logistics Management (LM): What are UPS Healthcare’s primary innovations and goals for a stronger cold chain?
Our primary goal is to continue to build a strong and sustainable global cold chain infrastructure. As we continue to expand our cold chain capabilities around the world, we are also innovating our products to provide greater flexibility to meet the unique needs of our customers. For example, we recently expanded our next-generation UPS Premier product line, which always monitors packages, creating visibility and prioritization for each shipment. An additional layer of sensor technology enables these shipments to be returned in real-time if they encounter network delays, temperature deviations or other issues, allowing us to accurately monitor temperature-controlled packages anywhere in the UPS global network. As innovations in biologics, specialty pharmaceuticals, cell and gene therapy, and complex medical devices continue to drive significant demand for precision logistics, our goal is to support more patient-critical, time- and temperature-sensitive products.
Logistics Management (LM): How does global trade affect global supply chains and cold chains, especially in the US?
The COVID pandemic has also highlighted major supply and cold chain disruptions, as well as US dependence on foreign sources, which is driving changes in existing ones. supply chains serving the US and Europe. As an industry, we need to provide alternative trade lanes that allow flexibility when closures or disruptions occur. It is imperative that companies expand their procurement capabilities to be more reliable and better able to adapt to times of uncertainty.
In terms of cold chain, the industry has seen tremendous growth in a short period of time, which has created new challenges. Increasing demand for cold chain services, along with the growth of e-commerce and shipping delays has led to a greater need for automation and digitization, forcing companies like UPS Healthcare to improve cold chain management.
We are also seeing a rapid shift away from traditional distribution models to more home care. This will continue to challenge us as we transition to smaller, more nimble movements at the point of care.
About the author
Jeff Berman, Group News Editor Jeff Berman is the Group News Editor Logistics management, Modern material handlingand An overview of supply chain management. Jeff works and lives in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, where he covers all aspects of supply chain, logistics, freight and material handling on a daily basis. Contact Jeff Berman
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