Track & Trace

Where did this product come from? It’s a simple question that’s fuelling a new era of fully transparent and traceable products. We explore how.

Exoskeletons will aid pharma factory workers. 3D printing will allow pharmacies to produce drugs on the spot. Blockchain technologies will help fight counterfeit drugs. These are just bits and pieces, but the entire process of the pharmaceutical supply chain will be affected by disruptive technologies. Let me show you a comprehensive overview how innovations will make it more efficient, faster and cheaper than ever before.

Did you know 1 in 5 consumers refuses to purchase any products from a company that suffered a food recall? Meanwhile, the amount of counterfeit products on the global market is forecast to increase 3 percent annually over the next five years. In the US alone, food recalls have increased 400 percent in the past five years. To safeguard brand identity, packaging suppliers are increasingly turning to serialization.

Despite the popular hype surrounding blockchain, it will likely be the humble blocking and tackling of supply chain management that proves the technology’s value to business.
Supply chains present an ideal case for the distributed ledger technology. They contain lots of complexity and waste, have multiple parties that need to contractually share information or multiple applications, and are tasked with increasing demands. To top it off, they come with financial and reputation ramifications should things go awry.

Last week, the FDA released two new guidances for interpreting track and trace requirements:

• Standardization of Data and Documentation Practices for Product Tracing Guidance for Industry
• Definitions of Suspect Product and Illegitimate Product for Verification Obligations Under the Drug Supply Chain Security Act

DHL, the world’s leading logistics company, today launched its latest research report on digitalization in the supply chain. The report reveals that new technologies and solutions are developing at a fast-pace and disrupting industries on multiple fronts, with supply chains struggling to keep up. The global survey of nearly 350 supply chain and operations professionals reveals that 95% of respondents are not fully capitalizing on the potential benefits that physical innovation and information/analytics offer.

Unibright is the world’s first blockchain based project of its kind that gives anyone the ability to craft powerful Blockchain solutions and Dapps with no coding skills or expensive developers. Users on the platform can define business integration workflows visually, without writing any codes.

The US FDA has released recommended data standards for drug supply chain trading partners, in a move to standardise track and trace.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued the draft guidance this week, which elaborates on industry standards relating to the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA).

In the history of innovation, much progress has been made by successful applications being adapted from one sector to another. The aerospace and automotive industries, for example, routinely introduce new technologies that were first tested in space, or Formula One.

Industry 4.0 has been dubbed the next industrial revolution, with many analysts expecting the digitalisation of manufacturing to revolutionise how goods are processed and produced. Global consulting firm PwC surveyed more than 2,000 ‘first movers’ from nine major industrial sectors to see how they approached Industry 4.0. Here are their four key findings.

One of the pioneers in this field is R-Pharm Germany – formerly part of the Pfizer production network. Back in 2009, the experienced CDMO developed systems for serialization and aggregation and went live with several packaging lines in its facility in Illertissen, Germany.
Today, R-Pharm supports manufacturers, which are not ready for the upcoming requirements, by providing packaging capabilities including serialization as a standard service.

Lack of standardised track and trace-related communication in the pharmaceutical sector has posed significant constraints on implementing workable serialisation solutions, new findings have revealed.

Think big, act small. A common mistake made when implementing complex projects such as supply chain visibility is the attempt to solve all issues in one tranche. What’s important is to make a start on where the biggest wins are – it might, for example, be inventory reduction or improved order fulfilment. Visibility provides the opportunity to put things under control, so start with your main issues and then seek to extend towards a bigger visibility picture. Also, consider where you currently have or may need good data quality (accurate, timely and usable) - it is essential for effective supply chain visibility and can often be a major barrier.