Supply chain & logistics
Real-time data allows for real-time actions that could stop
pharmaceutical waste.
Bacon, who worked for several pharmaceutical companies before setting up his own firm last year, sees the technology as supporting a growing shift “from insurance to assurance”.
“The earlier devices provided some insurance that at the end of the trip everything was fine,” he explains. “You could easily see if there had been a temperature excursion, the gravity of that excursion, [the] length of time that excursion occurred, and so be able to ascertain whether the excursion was detrimental to the product or not.” Now the idea is to get ahead of any such excursion happening. “The technology transition is to assurance, where you’re trying to predict what could potentially happen,” he says. “You’re doing some lane risk analysis, where you might gather historical data over a period of time for particular lanes [by which drugs are being transported], and then you can determine what the incidents [with temperature excursions] might be, were they to happen. Where that leads is that you can then develop contingency plans.” In other words, real-time temperature monitoring technology is no longer simply focused on ensuring that the correct mark on the thermometer is being hit – and alerting when it’s not. The next frontier is to use that data to make predictions about when problems are likely to occur, enabling early intervention.
“The technology that is going to take us to the next step is the technology where that sort of logic is built into the devices and software,” says Bacon. He cites a real-life scenario as an example of the difference that could make. It happened a few years ago, when a drug delivery was passing through an airport before connecting to another flight. A sensor showed that it had been put in a storage facility at the wrong temperature. “We were able to see that in real time and
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contact the airline,” Bacon remembers. “They swore it was in the right facility, but we convinced them to go and look [because we had the real-time data]. They came back and confirmed it was in the wrong place. So, these real-time devices have really helped save product.” With AI-powered technology, however, the hope is “you get this predictive concept”. Perhaps software will alert that there was a previous issue with that specific airport at that particular time of day and during that particular month, and flag that additional checks are needed. “It’ll say: ‘Hey, I’ve seen this happen before, and here are some of the contingencies you might be able to do right away to get things back on track’,” says Bacon.
“The technology transition is to assurance, where you’re trying to predict what could potentially happen.”
Jim Bacon
Climate change to labour shortages: challenges shaping the cold chain The potential causes of a temperature going off course are complex. Phil Pluck is chief executive of the Cold Chain Federation, a UK-based body representing the businesses that run the temperature-controlled supply chain, and cites numerous factors the industry now needs to manage. Some are centred on the sector itself, but others speak to issues that are worldwide challenges. “If we look at the global issues that affect storage and distribution, we have climate change,” Pluck begins. “We have an ever-increasing resistance to some drugs and therefore an ever-increasing production of other drugs. We have fluctuating energy prices. We have the drive towards a net-zero
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