Track & Trace

In logistics, the visibility of your product in transit is essential to promote your brand’s reliability and capability. It is an expectation, not an added benefit, for a consumer to know where a product is and when they can expect it.

Technology’s impact on the pharmaceutical supply chain and the opportunity to fundamentally change the patient experience permeated all the presentations and conversations. Heads were nodding as we shared our latest supply chain survey results that revealed nearly 100% of the respondents believe today’s technologies will not only enhance the supply chain but get us closer to the patient, yet they are held back by roadblocks on the transformation journey

As a contract manufacturer with a global network of more than two dozen facilities and offices, the CDMO is positioning itself not only for compliance, but also for future digital transformation to set itself apart amid ever-evolving customer demands for cost efficiency, service and innovation.

Supply chain management is frequently described as one of the main applications of blockchain technology, with typical promises including the ability to track everything immutably, simplify information sharing, cut costs and generally get a significant competitive edge over anyone who's not on the blockchain.

Serialization and track-and-trace provider Adents has introduced a new mobile application developed for pharmaceutical warehouses, wholesalers, distributors and dispensers (such as pharmacies and hospitals) for improved traceability throughout the supply chain.

The QR in QR Code stands for Quick Response code. Developed and patented by Denso Wave, a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corp in 1994, QR Codes were used to track vehicles as they moved along the assembly line, and to quickly scan components used in the vehicles. While Denso Wave still owns the patent over the technology, the company very kindly granted free license to it, allowing third parties to use the technology and help it be widely accepted.

Innovation in even smaller form factors, greater, more reliable reads over longer distances, less cost to acquire and deploy – just like the evolution of the IC foretold by Intel cofounder Gordon Moore, there’s always a lot of interest when a tiny new RFID is released.

A lot has been written about how the Internet of Things (IOT) and other innovations will impact supply chains. In recent times we've seen some significant supply chain innovations that help reduce cost, increase velocity and generally smooth logistical aspects of the supply chain.
But what about innovation in the supply chain?  Harnessing innovation in the supply chain can lead to all kinds of possibilities from highly competitive new product offerings through to business growth.

About seven out of ten Americans takes a prescription drug. Though most of us don't think twice about the journey our medicine takes from factory to pharmacy, the drug supply chain is in trouble.
About 10% of the world's drugs are tainted or unsafe, and the counterfeit drug market is now a $217-billion industry. Because drugs are manufactured all over the globe, products change hands dozens of times before ending up on pharmacy shelves. That creates plenty of opportunity for fake, expired or contaminated drugs to infect an increasingly chaotic supply chain.

Dublin-based major consultancy firm Accenture has partnered with French multinational aerospace firm Thales Group to update aircraft supply chains using blockchain. Based on Hyperledger Fabric and set for its debut at the UK’s Farmborough Airshow, the solution will use blockchain in tandem with Thales’ physically unclonable function (PUF) tool to “track, trace and authenticate aircraft parts and materials.”

These digital versions of physical things simultaneously evolve and record data as they mature in their life cycles. They allow businesses to aggregate, analyze, gain insights and eventually build the final version by testing and building the digital ones first.

Farmatrust announced today that it has applied for patent protection to cover its pharmaceutical supply chain services based on blockchain and artificial intelligence as well as its ZOI platform, under the expert guidance of the top tier patent attorney firm EIP (www.eip.com). Farmatrust intends to seek patent protection in all the most important commercial markets, and is confident of success.

“The biggest obstacle to using blockchain in health care is the lack of data sharing,” Melanie Nuce, blockchain expert and senior vice president of corporate development for the information standards organization GS1 US, tells ThirtyK. At a patient level, for instance, electronic health records (EHRs) may not be compatible with EHR technology in other health care systems. At a pharmaceutical level, it still can be hard to quickly and accurately trace ingredients, manufactured lots and individual doses through development, manufacturing and delivery.

RateLinx offers predictive analytics that stands out from all other DaaS (Data as a Service) providers because we create an integrated dataset—not an aggregated dataset—as the foundation for all analysis. By integrating the various data surrounding your supply chain, you will have a complete picture of your supply chain in one spot.

Barcodes codes were the brainchild of the American inventor and mechanical engineer, Joseph Woodland, who was looking for a more efficient way of capturing product information at supermarket checkouts. Seventy years later, people are still finding new and unexpected uses for barcodes.

Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are the three most groundbreaking emerging technologies in today’s tech industry. Verity cohesively employs all three in order to increase efficiency, transparency, and legitimacy in product assertions; namely, Made in USA, Organic, Halal, Kosher, and Vegan claims. Each of these technologies has immense potential and is deserving of the attention surrounding them. However, when applied simultaneously this tech trinity can be earth-shaking.

In this episode Chris and Cerasis’ Marketing Manager & “The Freight Project Podcast” host, Adam Robinson, will learn who is Slync and how they are utilizing advanced technologies like blockchain and other digital supply chain technologies such as artificial intelligence for product track and trace, exception management, and multi-party process automation among many others.