In-depth lane risk assessments for Panalpina’s healthcare customers

A single shipment of pharmaceuticals is easily worth millions, so you want to make sure that temperature control and security are tight from beginning to end. With Panalpina’s lane risk assessments for over 2,500 trade lanes, customers get to see who can do what along the transport chain, where potential risks are and how they can be mitigated.

Clean, clinical and whiter than white. In the heavily regulated healthcare and pharmaceutical industry, there are guidelines for practically every process in the product lifecycle. Good Distribution Practice (GDP) guidelines, for instance, require the proper transport, handling, storage and distribution of pharmaceuticals. In addition, manufacturers of pharmaceutical products must assess the capabilities of logistics suppliers.

Lane risk assessment to be integrated in new customer portal

It was with meeting these stringent requirements in mind that Panalpina co-developed an open, cloud-based online platform called Validaide in 2017, which lets users qualify key suppliers and conduct risk assessments door-to-door. On this platform, Panalpina’s customers and suppliers can connect and share information to standardize and improve supplier assessment for different transport modes and product categories. Access to Validaide will be part of the Plan function of Panalpina’s customer portal to be launched during 2019.

One key benefit is dynamic and fact-based contractor management. All users maintain their own data on capabilities and certifications in a standardized way and give access to others as needed, enabling efficient information sharing. Another benefit is automated and in-depth lane risk assessments. Capabilities and certifications are grouped into standardized checklists for carriers, other suppliers, Panalpina agents and locations, including Panalpina business units and warehouses, and translated into risk assessments for specific transport routes.

Aggregated data from over 2,500 trade lanes

The platform currently houses aggregated data from over 2,500 trade lanes. It is multi-mode and multi-product, and therefore scalable – more features will be added in the next months:

• Besides the current carrier capability checklists for air and road transport, standard capability checklists for ocean carriers and port operators will be added.
• Building on capabilities for temperature-controlled transport mainly for pharmaceutical products, categories such as perishables, high-value cargo, dangerous goods and live animals will be included.
• Other usability improvements cover time planning to fix absolute times or select days, and lane comparison to compare the risk on different lanes.
• Simulation of temperature- and weather-related risks, i.e. “what if we fly tomorrow” will be another enhancement that users can look forward to.

Through the platform, Panalpina can offer its customers enhanced visibility and options globally. They get to see who can do what along the transport chain, where potential risks are and how they can be mitigated. This is particularly important for pharmaceutical companies. “A single shipment of pharmaceuticals is easily worth millions, so you want to make sure that temperature control and security are tight from beginning to end. Prevention is better – and less costly – than cure,” says Andreas Sahli, global head of industry vertical healthcare at Panalpina.