Background
For three decades, MD Logistics has served the pharmaceutical industry as a third-party logistics provider. During that time, they have witnessed the industry evolve into highly specialized, quality focused organizations – dictated by the temperature sensitive products in their supply chain. As temperature sensitive biologics and medicines have increased in popularity in recent years, so too has the need for compliant ways to ship products within their temperature requirements to allow for safe consumption by the patient. This need, coupled with the industry-wide desire to reduce overall environmental impact, presented a real challenge for pharmaceutical manufacturers as traditional shippers required massive amounts of single-use materials to maintain temperature parameters. Companies like AeroSafe Global, entered the market with a simple mission in mind, to transform the way pharmaceuticals are shipped, in turn changing the way the industry looks at packaging.
Challenge
In an effort to keep product within temperature range, vast amounts of materials were needed to keep product compliant and safe for patient consumption. However, as the industry evolved to place a greater emphasis on sustainability and lowering carbon emissions, one glaring threat to this strategy became increasingly obvious. The packaging materials that were being utilized were often single-use materials meaning they were unable to be refurbished or reused. The need for a solution with a lower carbon footprint and the ability to keep product in temperature range throughout the shipping process was paramount – and especially felt by MD Logistics clients.
Solution
As MD Logistics clients went in search of a highly successful, reusable shipping solution, one provider stood out among the rest, AeroSafe Global.
With over a decade of experience in the industry, AeroSafe has perfected their Full-Cycle Reuse Model, streamlining the process down the supply chain – from the manufacturer, to distribution and delivery partners, to the end patient. Once the team at MD Logistics was introduced to the program, it became increasingly clear this solution provided many different benefits for pharmaceutical manufacturers to incorporate into their supply chain.
Reduced carbon footprint. Traditional packaging elements required to keep temperature sensitive pharmaceuticals compliant are often cumbersome and bound for the landfill. In fact, statistics show that there is 7x the amount of waste generated by single use EPS containers when compared to a reusable alternative. Incorporating AeroSafe’s Full-Cycle Reuse Model offers the potential for manufacturers to realize a 65% reduction in CO2 emissions, significantly reducing the organization’s carbon footprint. With a reusable shipper, components have to be returned by the consumer in order for them to be ‘reusable’ or utilized for multiple shipments. With this in mind, AeroSafe has a 98.7% recovery rate – streamlining their program to make returns as easy as possible for both the consumer and the manufacturer.
Enhanced visibility without operational friction. While the physical logistics are managed within the MD Logistics warehouse, the pharmaceutical manufacturer retains 100% oversight through AeroSafe’s integrated visibility tools. This “digital layer” provides the manufacturer with real-time temperature, location and delivery status data directly, bypassing the need for manual reporting from the 3PL. This ensures the manufacturer retains oversight of the shipment integrity without requiring manual updates from the 3PL. This was attained by the utilization of physical hardware, AeroVision, that was installed in the MD Logistics facility directly on top of an existing conveyor. This hardware scans the shippers, capturing both the bin and tracking numbers of the shipment, relaying information back to both AeroSafe and the manufacturer.
Reduced product loss. AeroSafe’s validated cold chain shippers go through rigorous qualification testing to ensure that product maintains temperature even with unexpected delays during delivery. Utilizing the most advanced materials and state-of-the-art technologies, these shippers can maintain temperature for over four days during transport. On average, pharmaceutical manufacturers experience 3% product loss due to standard delivery practices and procedures. Manufacturers utilizing AeroSafe’s services realize product loss of 0.
Results
The benefits of utilizing an AeroSafe shipper for MD Logistics clients were simple – reductions in carbon emissions and product loss and enhanced shipment visibility. But, as the 3PL provider, what stood out to MD Logistics was the ease of onboarding a new solution and the ongoing relationship that developed with AeroSafe. With the onboarding of AeroSafe’s Full-Cycle Reuse Model into the MD Logistics warehouse, operations at MDL realized reduced pack-out errors due to the ease of assembly and the considerably fewer components these shippers require has made inventory management easier and lessens stock-out issues.
Often packaging decisions are driven by the manufacturer, with the 3PL being made aware of what was happening, but removed from the procurement process. The nature of AeroSafe’s products and the specific engineering and technology involved required the team at MD Logistics to be heavily involved in the implementation process with the AeroSafe Team. In order to bring AeroSafe’s solution online for clients, MD Logistics had to reengineer warehouse flows to ensure that the warehouse could absorb and accommodate the new technology.
MD Logistics has created a reputation within the 3PL industry for providing customized supply chain solutions for their clients’ problems. If they don’t have a solution currently in place, through cross-functional, highly collaborative teams, they figure out a way to meet their client’s unique supply chain needs. Upon being awarded the business, AeroSafe, MD Logistics and the 3PL client worked together to onboard AeroSafe’s reusable shippers within the MD Logistics warehouse – making adaptations to conveyors and warehouse processes to accommodate the added weight and different dimensions of the shippers. The ability and willingness to make these changes to their operational footprint without disruptions to existing business is a competitive advantage for MDL and a strategic benefit for the client. MD Logistics also needed to work closely with the AeroSafe team to make the preparations to accommodate the technology which accompanies the reusable shippers. This process highlighted the critical interdependencies between advanced packaging, cold chain logistics, and warehouse operations. AeroSafe worked collaboratively with the MD Logistics team to ensure the Full-Cycle Reuse Model supported MDL’s business model – while MD Logistics remained flexible and accommodating to the operational shifts required. Building a relationship on mutual support, respect and open communication was a cornerstone of this successful partnership, ensuring the technology and physical logistics were perfectly synced.
”Working closely and collaboratively with the AeroSafe team allowed our operations teams to bring this solution online in a quick and efficient manner. Our team did a lot of work, internally, to ensure that the new pack outs were properly set up in the warehouse management system (WMS) and the cubing was accurate for our client’s product lines. The key to onboarding a successful solution is open and active communication, and I am pleased that this was and continues to be our experience with the AeroSafe Global team!” states Chad Hodges, Vice President of Operations for MD Logistics.
“The results our mutual clients are seeing — zero product loss, reduced carbon emissions, seamless visibility — don’t happen without a 3PL that shows up as a true partner. MD Logistics brought the operational flexibility and the collaborative mindset that made this possible. We’re grateful to have them in our network.” — Jay McHarg, CEO, AeroSafe Global
Conclusion
Born through client referral, the relationship created between MD Logistics and AeroSafe Global was fostered by the same desire to serve their shared client’s supply chain with an equal standard of excellence. This has proven to be successful not only for both of their businesses, but also for their mutual client’s supply chain success.
