What are the features and trends of logistics and cold chain packaging for the pharma industry?  

Pharma industry logistics packaging, and the challenges it faces

Shipping medications is a form of transportation (including cold chain packaging) that requires adherence to strict rules. Pharmaceutical products can be moved by certain types of transport. It is necessary to create the right temperature regime, carefully develop a route, a logistical scheme to avoid delays on the way and interruptions in the supply chain.  The COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have seriously complicated this task. In addition to ensuring sustainability and continuity of supply, logistics managers must find ways to reduce costs, which have increased significantly due to fuel prices and inflation in the EU.  

What is the nature of drugs as cargo?

Transportation of medicines belongs to the category of moving fragile cargo. Therefore, there are many requirements for the service, which relate to the complete safety of the shipment. The goal is to deliver medicines without losing their primary characteristics, with their properties intact. Not only the condition of vaccines, solutions, but also the integrity of packaging, quantity, and quality of the shipped batch are monitored. Transportation of medical drugs is considered successful if the addressee receives the order and does not incur losses.

Plastic and cardboard pallet boxes are used for the logistical packaging of the majority of medicines. And for specific cargoes, such as vaccines and medicines that need precise temperature regulation during transportation, cold chain packaging is used. 

What are cold chain & cold chain packaging?

The “cold chain” is a set of logistical measures to ensure a constant temperature and other parameters necessary for the proper maintenance of goods throughout the entire chain of their movement, from production to the consumer.

The term “cold chain” itself originated in the pharmaceutical industry and regulates the rules of storage of pharmaceutical products, mainly immunological ones. Also, the regulations for building this system define the rules for the transportation of vaccines to pharmacies and medical institutions.

Pharma cold chain packaging trends

Due to the growth of the market for frozen and chilled products, the demand for temperature-controlled transport and cold chain pallets is growing.

Increasing consumer markets and globalisation in logistics increase the demands on the equipment and information technology used. Because of the fall of the new “iron curtain” to the east of Russia, supply chains face new challenges. Routes are getting more complicated, and new destinations and supply chains are appearing because the old ones are no longer functioning. For European pharmaceutical companies, reaching the Asian market is a real challenge due to Russia’s closed air and land borders. Distances have multiplied. There are more additional links – distribution centres, cross-docking platforms. During the movement of cargo, there is a need to control the stages of its transportation. 

Because there is a danger of violating temperature regimes, which leads to the loss of quality of cargoes that are sensitive to temperature changes. To avoid unforeseen losses, focus on customers near the warehouses from which you will ship cold chain freight.

Zamko

Over the last few years, Zamko has established itself as a specialist in temperature-controlled, fordable, and insulated cold chain pallet boxes. The most effective solutions to your logistics. With its network of bases and warehouses across Europe, Zamko can reduce your worries about potential losses in your supply chain to a minimum.

Learn how returnable and custom cold-chain pallet boxes can reduce your costs:

• electronic temperature monitoring;
• passive temperature control;
• calculates dimensions, taking optimal use of the PMC pallet dimensions;
• side impact protection;
• cutting costs in return transport;
• etc.

What are the main advantages of zamko’s cold-chain packaging?

2023 trends for pharmacy business supply chains  

1. Pooling centre

This is a centralised hub of information for your supply chain. It collecting a real-time data from different sources, adding it to a database and providing a readable view. This includes information related to temperature and travel conditions as well as location, along with info provided by couriers.  

2. Packaging automation

Secure packaging plays a crucial role in protecting the integrity of a drug product and facilitating authentication. This has become especially important since the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the increased numbers of vaccines and other medications being shipped all over the world.

Automating the process makes a multi-product packaging operation faster and easier to manage, as well as reducing the possibility of error.

3. Sustainability

Reusable and recovery packaging for reducing environmental impact! And for the pharmaceutical industry, this takes on added importance as it is responsible for almost 50 % more emissions than the automotive industry.

Zamko’s experts will guide you through the benefits of reusable packaging and packaging recovery. This is a logistics strategy that will save you a lot of money, and at the same time, contribute significantly to environmental protection. Find out how to switch to this type of packaging and logistics process organisation. The kind Zamko.eu staff will answer all your questions.