Building resilient healthcare supply chains post-pandemic

COVID-19 drastically reconfigured APAC healthcare supply chains in the past year. So what’s next?​​

Kawal Preet, President of Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa for FedEx Express, looks at three trends shaping cool-chain logistics post pandemic.​

Never has our industry been so visible, so essential.

Global healthcare logistics is forecast to post double-digit growth in coming years, with the Asia Pacific accounting for more than a third of that.^[1]​​

Looking ahead to that growth, I see three key trends for cool-chain logistics post pandemic.

The Power of Networks

First, the power of networks. More than ever, we are seeing the strong intersection of physical and digital.

The integration of air, ground and digital networks has never been more important.

With rapidly expanding cold-chain capabilities, our focus as an industry is strategic resilience, agility and speed. If the pandemic has shown us anything, it is the need for greater readiness - the ability to flex up when the need arises.

Asia’s economies are already highly integrated into global supply chains but still need to integrate more to enable large-scale distribution of vaccines, pharma, life science and medical products, particularly in areas with less-developed logistics infrastructure for instance, is lacking.

Our networks must be constantly at the ready, not just to drive critical healthcare products through cold chain networks, but to accelerate changes that help make supply chains more adaptive and flexible. Life Sciences hubs and other cold-chain facilities already demonstrate that importance of network.

Power of networks is also about people – who go above and beyond every day to deal with sudden changes in production from one country or continent to another. That power is seen in the integrated logistics teams working alongside governments and healthcare companies to counter disruption and create solutions.

Our own FedEx Express network was founded about 50 years ago based on a physical hub and spoke system. We now have more than 90 cold chain facilities across five continents. But now - even more exciting – is the power to increase value and scale exponentially with even greater point-to-point connectivity and through technology. Which leads me to the second trend, the shift to digital.

The Shift to Digital

The accelerated shift to digital has created much-needed accessibility at a time when healthcare logistics is playing a powerful global leadership role.  As an industry, we can use COVID-19 disruption for good, and much broader adoption of digital is vital to achieving that.

Vast cold-chain resources around the world give more people access to life-saving pharma products, including vaccines. Digital advances make it easier to eliminate coverage gaps,^[2]​​​ and to identify compliance and integrity challenges before they become an issue.

As digital is increasingly embedded in global supply chains, expanding visibility across the entire journey is the key to delivering outstanding customer experience. Real-time information empowers cool-chain ecosystems and provides the agility that’s so critical right now.

Seamless digital standards in procedures, documentation such as electronic Air Waybills, packaging, and regulations are now essential for compliant cold-chain commerce. Tracking tools and devices to monitor temperature-sensitive shipments are rapidly moving from optional to standard requirements.

Yet smart data alone is not enough. Digital has certainly become a dominant element of supply chains during COVID-19, but we still need to find innovative ways to digitally manage healthcare supply chains.

For instance, vaccines pass through many touchpoints such as customs, security, loading and unloading, but often encounter different data systems before reaching end consumers. We must harness the digital precision of today’s supply chains to smooth the way and provide solutions to those challenges.

Solutions must be “fit for purpose”

So the third trend, any solutions - digital or otherwise - must be fit for purpose in today’s environment.

The pharma industry moves $1 trillion worth of cargo every year. That requires very specific technology solutions in packaging, storage and handling – solutions designed not just with “disruption in mind”, but which are also sustainable and re-usable.

Of course, the current priority for healthcare logistics is COVID-19 vaccines. Moving billions of COVID-19 vaccines quickly and safely around the world in a landscape of significant unpredictability is our greatest challenge - getting vaccines to the countries and the people who need it most.

Solutions that are ‘fit for purpose’ include COVID-19 vaccine distribution beyond established APAC city hubs to second, third, fourth, and fifth tier cities and villages across the region. As the geography of vaccine movement shifts, and as manufacturers build new production sites or increase capacity of existing facilities, distribution must reach even more remote corners of the world.

Our job is to handle vaccine distribution AND supply chain requirements of customers simultaneously.

Against that backdrop, we are seeing continued expansion in cold chain facilities and capacity in order to scale up and provide the speed and precision that healthcare customers need right now.

Vaccine distribution is some of the most important work we have done. COVID-19 has indeed highlighted our very clear sense of purpose, one in which our industry can, and is, making a very real difference in society.

Learn more about What’s Next for Healthcare Logistics, visit FedEx Business Insights​. Connect with the FedEx Healthcare team​ to find the shipping solution that fits your needs.

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