Category Archives: Risk Management

Understanding COVID-19 and the vaccine cold chain

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Understanding COVID-19 and the vaccine cold chain

Understanding COVID-19 and the vaccine cold chain

B Medical Systems discusses the importance of reliable, high quality bio-medical storage and the crucial impact of the vaccine cold chain.
Optimal cold chain infrastructures are vital if vaccines are to reach healthcare facilities at temperatures where their efficacy remains unchanged. The COVID-19 pandemic has not only highlighted the disparities in vaccine roll outs around the world but the logistical hurdles that can arise when transporting and storing medical equipment at ultra-low temperatures. B Medical Systems offers a range of cold chain solutions that can be used to store and transport vital vaccines, medicines and samples around the world. Here, they tell Health Europa Quarterly (HEQ) about some of the key challenges in the vaccine cold chain and how their over ­40 years in operation have helped them become a global leader in providing cutting-edge medical devices.

What sets B Medical Systems’ refrigeration units apart from similar products on the market?

The main factor that sets B Medical Systems apart from other manufacturers out there is our history as experts in the provision of cold chain solutions for vaccines. During our 40 plus years of operations, we have gone through all the ups and downs of the industry; testing our equipment in the most rugged territories in the world. Our main business is in the vaccine cold chain in Africa, South America and Southeast Asia and the experiences that we gained from those areas flow into every product that we have.

What key challenges have you experienced related to transporting vaccines in inhospitable regions?

The main challenge is logistics. Most people will have a refrigerator at home but there are a lot of areas and households in the world that do not have access to power, and the same is true of medical facilities. How do you get a vaccine that is produced with the highest standards in some Western countries – be it Germany, the US, or the UK – to areas without the necessary facilities to keep vaccines stable and stored correctly?

Aside from storing the COVID-19 vaccine, what are some other existing or potential applications for ultra-low temperature freezers?

Any kind of current or future mRNA vaccine that needs or will need to be stored for a long period of time will require storage in an ULT freezer. This though would not be required for those vaccines that only need to be stored for up to two weeks, for instance, but certainly any biological specimen – human, animal and even plant specimens – that you want to store over a longer period need to be stored in an ULT.

Read more at Understanding COVID-19 and the vaccine cold chain

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COVID-19: Managing supply chain risk and disruption

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COVID-19: Managing supply chain risk and disruption

COVID-19: Managing supply chain risk and disruption

Coronavirus highlights the need to transform traditional supply chain models

Could COVID-19 be the black swan event that finally forces many companies, and entire industries, to rethink and transform their global supply chain model? One fact is beyond doubt: It has already exposed the vulnerabilities of many organizations, especially those who have a high dependence on China to fulfil their need for raw materials or finished products.

China’s dominant role as the “world’s factory” means that any major disruption puts global supply chains at risk. Highlighting this is the fact that more than 200 of the Fortune Global 500 firms have a presence in Wuhan, the highly industrialized province where the outbreak originated, and which has been hardest hit. Companies whose supply chain is reliant on Tier 1 (direct) or Tier 2 (secondary) suppliers in China are likely to experience significant disruption, even if, according to the most optimistic reports, conditions approach normalcy in China by April.

How can organizations respond to the immediate change?

As the COVID-19 threat spreads, here are measures companies can take to protect their supply chain operations:

For companies that operate or have business relationships in China and other impacted countries, steps may include:

  1. Educate employees on COVID-19 symptoms and prevention
  2. Reinforce screening protocols
  3. Prepare for increased absenteeism
  4. Restrict non-essential travel and promote flexible working arrangements
  5. Align IT systems and support to evolving work requirements
  6. Prepare succession plans for key executive positions
  7. Focus on cash flow

For companies that produce, distribute, or source from suppliers in China and other impacted countries, steps may include:

  1. Enhance focus on workforce/labor planning
  2. Focus on Tier 1 supplier risk
  3. Illuminate the extended supply network
  4. Understand and activate alternate sources of supply
  5. Update inventory policy and planning parameters
  6. Enhance inbound materials visibility
  7. Prepare for plant closures
  8. Focus on production scheduling agility
  9. Evaluate alternative outbound logistics options and secure capacity
  10. Conduct global scenario planning

For companies that sell products or commodities to China and other impacted countries, steps may include:

  1. Understand the demand impact specific to your business
  2. Confirm short-term demand-supply synchronization strategy
  3. Prepare for potential channel shifts
  4. Evaluate alternative inbound logistics options
  5. Enhance allocated available to promise capability
  6. Open channels of communication with key customers
  7. Prepare for the rebound
  8. Conduct global scenario planning

Looking ahead: the imperative for a new supply chain model

A decades-long focus on supply chain optimization to minimize costs, reduce inventories, and drive up asset utilization has removed buffers and flexibility to absorb disruptions─and COVID-19 illustrates that many companies are not fully aware of the vulnerability of their supply chain relationships to global shocks.

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Read more at COVID-19: Managing supply chain risk and disruption

10 Potential Risks in Cold Chain Management

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10 Potential Risks in Cold Chain Management

10 Potential Risks in Cold Chain Management

Socio-political unrest, labor shortages, wars, geological events, to pandemic concerns; these are just a few of the things that could affect changes in shipping patterns and/or logistics strategies.

Seemingly unrelated events halfway around the world can impact a shipment out for delivery, and there’s nothing your production or logistics teams can do about it. That’s the inherent volatility of a supply chain. It’s worse still for temperature-controlled logistics.

Therefore, the best you can do is mitigate the risk.

Shippers are urged to expect the worst and give it their best when handling high-value shipments, ensuring there’s enough care and contingency in place to mitigate unexpected risks.

The problem is, supply chain risk management is a costly affair, and that’s especially true for a cold chain. Nonetheless, it’s a necessary cost to avoid unnecessary loss, especially when you weigh the strategic importance of cold chains to improve, nay, save lives.

10 Things That Could Interrupt or Disrupt Your Cold Chain

Shipping high-value consignments over long distances within their prescribed temperature range — consistently and without excursion — is a collaborative effort.

  1. Pressure to Meet Cost Efficiencies in Cold Chain Management
  2. Lack of Uniform Infrastructure Globally Affecting Cold Chains
  3. Impact of Increased Regulations on Cold Chain Management
  4. Environmental Impact on Your Cold Chain
  5. Supplier Risk in Your Cold Chain
  6. Distribution/Delivery Risk in Cold Chain
  7. The Human Element in Cold Chain Risk Management
  8. Security Risk in Your Cold Chain
  9. Retailer Risk in Your Cold Chain
  10. Customer/Demand Risks to Your Cold Chain Logistics

How to Reduce Risks in Cold Chain Management

It’s no secret that cold chain assurance will cost you, but how can you run a lean cold chain while still mitigating the risks?

The key to dealing with unforeseen challenges is to prepare, plan ahead, and have enough contingencies, as well as a robust risk management strategy in place, supported by stringent processes and technologies.

How can you achieve that when the window to act and prevent losses can be a matter of hours or scant minutes?

You need a real-time cold chain monitoring system which can monitor your temperature-controlled shipments in-transit as well as in a warehouse.

Temperature data loggers only provide you with post-shipment audit trails, but with the number of weak links in your cold chain, you would need more actionable real-time data.

Read more at 10 Potential Risks in Cold Chain Management

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COVID And Now Hurricane Laura

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COVID And Now Hurricane Laura

COVID And Now Hurricane Laura

The U.S. Texas and Louisiana Gulf coast region is this evening undergoing mandatory coastal evacuation procedures in the wake of Hurricane Laura, now a Category Four storm with catastrophic strength.

Peak winds are forecasted to be as high as 150 miles per hour (240 kilometers per hour) accompanied by a possible 15-foot water surge at time of landfall with forecasters now warning of lethal flooding and wind damage. Reports point to the potential of upwards of billions of dollars in potential property loses.

Hundreds of thousands of people are reportedly at risk.

As if the COVID-19 disruption was not enough, multi-industry supply chain management teams must now prepare for whatever affects come from this major storm

From a supply network perspective the threatened area includes the epicenter of U.S. oil refining and petrol-chemical facilities, along with the major port areas of Houston and New Orleans. Facilities that are in the path of the storm are already closed and making appropriate preparations including the largest refinery complex in the United States, Saudi Aramco’s Motiva refinery.

Comparisons are already being made to Hurricane Katrina that occurred in 2005 or Hurricane Harvey that occurred in 2017, each storm of similar magnitude which resulted in upwards of $150 billion in property damage, loss of life and multi-days of industry supply chain disruption.

Read more at COVID And Now Hurricane Laura

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Supply Chain Creativity During COVID-19

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Supply Chain Creativity During COVID-19

Supply Chain Creativity During COVID-19

Just as we typically don’t think about how groceries get to our grocery store, we probably don’t wonder how medical supplies get to our hospital room or doctor’s office. But for those of us who work in hospital supply chain management, we know a lot of negotiating, storage and coordination goes into this at the best of times.

As the world confronts COVID-19, issues regarding medical supply chains have been thrust into the spotlight. When a previously nonexistent health threat spreads across the globe in a matter of weeks, demand for essential medical equipment suddenly outstrips supply. Fraudulent vendors become a higher risk. Established vendor partnerships are strained. In fact, this virus originated near a major personal protective equipment (PPE) manufacturing area in China. This greatly reduced supply at a time when the world needed it most.

While most of UW Health has thus far not encountered a surge of COVID-19 patients, we have still faced unprecedented challenges since the onset of the pandemic. To overcome these current and potential shortages, serious creativity and collaboration need to be front and center.

With so much still unknown, a best-case scenario might be a new normal of carefully caring for COVID-19 patients in steady conjuncture with the many other patients who need our support. This creates a significant and prolonged increased need for PPE, posing tremendous challenges as the supply chain is under immense stress.

Using Public and Private Partnerships

As an academic medical center where our physicians are also faculty of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, UW Health often works methodically. Now that time is of the essence, the health system and university have been collaborating closely and swiftly, and UW Health is benefiting greatly from its close partnership and proximity to the institution’s educators and students.

Making Unusable PPE Usable

In mid-March, UW Health received 1,250 hoods from the strategic national stockpile. These were meant to be used with our PAPRs, the respiratory protection systems that protect healthcare professionals when bodily fluids can be aerosolized, such as during intubation. Powered by a blower strapped around the wearer’s waist and connected by a hose to a hood covering the head, PAPRs offer the highest form of protection to a medical professional’s head, face and respiratory system during high-risk procedures.

Keeping Hand Sanitizer Flowing

As COVID-19 rapidly spread, the supply of hand sanitizer dwindled everywhere. We knew we would be hard-pressed to safely care for patients without it, so again we relied on the ingenuity and expertise of partners, this time at the UW-Madison School of Pharmacy’s Zeeh Pharmaceutical Experiment, which typically focuses on supporting drug development.

Reuse and Recycle

Sometimes supply chain challenges are not about getting or making more, but making existing supplies go further. We began sterilizing used N-95 respirators to reuse if we experienced a significant surge of patients. We have not yet needed to use them, but preparing for the worst is vital.

UW Health goes through thousands of surgical, isolation and patient gowns each week. Sourcing new, disposable gowns would be nearly impossible in the current climate. Fortunately, we are part of a laundry cooperative that not only launders all linens but sterilizes surgical and isolation gowns. Partnerships like this put a health system in a better position to control the supply chain than if it were a contracted client to a third-party laundry vendor or disposable gown supplier.

Read more at Supply Chain Creativity During COVID-19

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Seven Supply Chain Processes To Stop Doing In The Pandemic

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Seven Supply Chain Processes To Stop Doing In The Pandemic

Seven Supply Chain Processes To Stop Doing In The Pandemic

I remember standing in the temperature screening queue in Doha. As the line wound around multiple stations, my backpack cut into my shoulders. I was tired and cranky as I read the overview of MERS. As an United States resident, I was blissfully unaware of this virus and worried about catching my flight to Singapore. My ignorance of a potential pandemic was low.

Changing My Mental Model

The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012, didn’t make headline news. Likewise, I watched the coverage of SARS, H1N1, and Ebola from my TV screen. As the COVID-19 saga unfolded, this was my mental model. My first articles dealt with the virus as a Chinese localized phenomenon. My jaw dropped when a friend became ill in Dallas in January from a visit to Dubai. I never conceived that it would become my reality.

Start Doing

In my prior articles, I have written extensively on the need for outside-in demand sensing processes based on market consumption data. I have also written about the need for supplier development programs and building robust supply chain capabilities in value networks. (I list these articles at the bottom of this post for reference.)

Stop Doing

What can we stop doing? The first step is to stop traditional demand planning processes based on conventional order pattern modeling. (This is the ouput of the conventional Advanced Planning models.) The modeling of historic order patterns is worthless through the pandemic. Why? The sales order pattern is no longer a predictor of future demand. Instead, invest in market sensing and the use of market consumption data. Attempt to read market shifts as they happen and drive a response.

Wrap-up

In closing, let me leave you with some thoughts. The pandemic is the result of a novel virus. Today, we have more that is unknown than known. What we stop doing will give us resources to focus on managing the supply chain in these uncertain times. Let me know your thoughts, and good luck.

Read more at Seven Supply Chain Processes To Stop Doing In The Pandemic

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Coronavirus Pandemic Turns U.S. Food and Beverage Supply Chains on Their Heads

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Coronavirus Pandemic Turns U.S. Food and Beverage Supply Chains on Their Heads

Coronavirus Pandemic Turns U.S. Food and Beverage Supply Chains on Their Heads

Current U.S. food supply chains are facing a severe emergency due to the current health situation, so how can these companies meet crisis-level fulfillment goals while avoiding introducing pathogens into an already stressed food supply chain?

Food and Beverage Supply Chains

Our current coronavirus-world has turned food and beverage supply chains on their heads, highlighting the importance of supply chain visibility and meeting U.S. FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) guidance.

FSMA aims to prevent and mitigate food-borne illnesses, which, according to the FDA website, under “normal” conditions, sicken about 48 million Americans annually – a significant public health burden.

But current U.S. food supply chains are facing a severe emergency due to the current health situation – store closings, social distancing, self-isolation, and panic grocery buying.

Food and beverage manufacturers are scrambling to fulfill orders.

How can these companies meet crisis-level fulfillment goals while avoiding introducing pathogens into an already stressed food supply chain?

FMSA Guidelines for Short- and Long-Term Food Safety

If your company is responsible for manufacturing, processing, packing, transporting or storing raw or finished food products or beverages and must comply with food-borne pathogen reduction requirements, consider the following steps.

They’ll ensure your customers receive non-damaged, top-quality foods:

  1. Familiarize or refamiliarize your personnel with existing FSMA guidelines that define safe food management criteria.
  2. Explore the recent FSMA draft guidance, “Mitigation Strategies to Protect Food Against Intentional Adulteration: Guidance for Industry” to ensure your food materials remain in compliance with government guidance. This newest guidance covers necessary written actions, training, procedures, and steps to take if mitigation strategies have been incorrectly implemented–including corrective steps to identify and correct a problem that has occurred and measures to reduce its recurrence. Corrective actions must be documented and are subject to verification.
  3. Employ tools that ensure you bypass common food contamination problems by providing overarching supply chain visibility and optimal shipping and handling decisions, so you can deliver the highest-quality food products as soon as possible while remaining compliant.

Read more Coronavirus Pandemic Turns U.S. Food and Beverage Supply Chains on Their Heads

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What Are the Benefits of Supplier Quality Audits?

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What Are the Benefits of Supplier Quality Audits?

What Are the Benefits of Supplier Quality Audits?

While you want to trust and count on your suppliers, do you really know for sure that they have the proper procedures in place, that the procedures are being actively applied, and that their employees follow their established procedures?

Supplier quality audits are the process of verifying that each of your suppliers is adhering to both industry standards as set by the law and independent organizations, as well as your own company and brand standards.

Audits are widely recognized as a pertinent part of doing business.

While there are many reasons for this practice, here are the six biggest benefits of performing supplier quality audits.

1. A Reduction of Risk

A significant amount of risk accompanies extended supply chains, outsourcing, and globalization. The risks include:

  1. Quality
  2. Safety
  3. Business Continuity
  4. Reputation
  5. Cost Volatility
  6. Supply Disruption
  7. Non-Compliance Fines
  8. Safety Incidents
  9. And More

2. Better Contractor Management and Business Relationships with Suppliers

Your business can gain ground when costs are reduced, contractor management is streamlined, brand reputation is protected, and long-term profitability is achieved. This is easier done when the following tasks are taken care of efficiently:

  1. Supplier Prequalification
  2. Supplier Audits
  3. Worker Management
  4. Insurance Monitoring
  5. Analytics

3. Expert Guidance on Safety and Sustainability Performance

While you already have strategies in place to manage the health, safety, and behaviors within your own organization, how do you know your suppliers, contractors, and vendors are similarly motivated?

Supplier quality audits actively foster an aligned culture of health and safety through:

  1. Contractor Prequalification
  2. Document Management
  3. Auditing
  4. Employee-Level Qualification and Training
  5. Insurance Verification
  6. Business Intelligence

4. Closer Alignment with Your Compliance Standards

Your business is under pressure to maintain compliance with:

  1. Country-specific regulations
  2. Industry standards and regulations
  3. Corporate policies and standards

5. Better Procurement Decisions

Procurement teams are under a lot of pressure to find, qualify, monitor, and manage suppliers, all while lowering the cost of doing so. With supplier quality auditing, procurement managers can make better and more cost-effective procurement decisions by:

  1. Mitigating risk through communication, evaluation, selection, and monitoring services.
  2. Gaining unprecedented visibility into safety statistics, risk profiles, and historical data.
  3. Reducing lead time and improving efficiency with ongoing guidance and support throughout the procurement process.
  4. Maximizing data quality on the entire supply chain.

6. Sustainable Business Practices

Today, an organization committed to improving the environment through sustainable growth is required to meet both regulatory requirements and societal expectations. Managing the long-term value of your company and its brand is party dependent on properly managing the environmental, social, financial, and economic impacts throughout its supply chain. All of this can be done more easily with thorough supplier quality audits.

Read more at What Are the Benefits of Supplier Quality Audits?

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Resilient Supply Chains in a Politically Uncertain World

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Resilient Supply Chains in a Politically Uncertain World

Resilient Supply Chains in a Politically Uncertain World

The Resilient Supply Chain

Today, the supply chain world iterates faster than at any other point in history. Disruptions – whether related to climate change, trade wars, or a no-deal Brexit – are a given, and black swan events aren’t surprises anymore. We know that the next event is coming fast and supply chains will have to react. So why have we not burned that understanding into our business DNA? Why are we still trying to leverage strategies developed 50 years ago and technologies unaligned to today’s needs?

What I mean is that every supply chain, everywhere, should be prepared at a moment’s notice to shut down, pivot, and spin up whatever operations it needs to, wherever it needs them. I’m of the strong opinion that if supply chain professionals reframe their thinking and look at uncertainties as opportunities then they will thrive. This thought came to me while reading an article on US trade disputes with China, or maybe it was an article on Brexit.

While I understand how conflicts arise, I have a hard time accepting why they are as adversely impactful to supply chains as they are. Contingency planning should cover for every possibility, and the overreliance on any single supplier or region is not smart business anymore. If the year was 1492 or 1839 or 1979, I could understand the desire to optimize a linear supply chain. That’s not the case today. With the advent of cloud technology and the reality of global markets – fallout from any one country’s instability or trade war can be mitigated.

Three Legs of a Resilient Supply Chain:

  1. Availability: For systems to work they need to be ON. As long as power and cloud servers exist, then a supply chain cannot be existentially threatened.
  2. Operational Flexibility and Configuration: Facilities available on a single network eliminate siloes and allow for customized configuration.
  3. More Control: Control is based on visibility, on knowing and seeing exactly where inventory is all the time.

What About Lost Goods?

Declare them lost, minimize losses, and deal with the repercussions.

Over the last two generations, western economies relied on an uncompetitive market to produce goods. Since 2010 the world has effectively been relying on an industrial monopoly.

It may have seemed like a good idea to rely on a single, cheap source of manufacturing fifty years ago. However, by choosing this path, countries damaged their own manufacturing economies.

They also exposed themselves to the exclusive possession and control of that same, supplier. That’s when the system naturally started to collapse. And that’s when the world began to see price-fixing and currency manipulation, among other signs of deterioration. What would you do if you ran a monopoly?

A dearth of suppliers is what companies are now contending with. There is no easy way out.

Read more at Resilient Supply Chains in a Politically Uncertain World

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3 Ways to Better Manage Supply Chain Risk in 2019

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Businessman's hand stopping falling wooden dominoes effect from continuous toppled or risk

3 Ways to Better Manage Supply Chain Risk in 2019

Managing a supply chain in 2019 incurs a certain amount of risk by necessity, but having a plan in place to manage risks, respond to incidents, and deal with disruptions can put your business ahead of competitors.

In order to best address these supply chain risks, they can be categorized by implications, or by sources.

  1. Qualitative: addresses the reliability and accuracy of materials
  2. Quantitative: addresses the availability of material or overstocks
  3. Atomistic: impacts only constrained links within it
  4. Holistic: requires businesses to assess entire supply chains

Based on a joint report from Cranfield School of Management and Dun & Bradstreet, supply chain risks can also be categorized in the following segments:

  1. Supplier criticality
  2. Supplier financial risk
  3. Global sourcing risk
  4. Foreign exchange risk

By looking at each of these risk categories individually, businesses gain a deeper understanding of how to best prioritize their attention. Supply chain risk management trends for 2019 offer further insight and solutions to businesses who desire a more transparent, risk-aware supply chain.

Keep Tabs on Your Current Suppliers

Visibility and transparency throughout the supply chain are critical as consumer priorities shift toward socially and environmentally-conscious ethics.

Outstanding performers are 250% more likely to have a fully visible and transparent procurement system compared to their peers, according to Deloitte’s Global CPO Survey of 2018. Despite this, 65% of procurement leaders have little or no visibility in their supply chains, according to the Zycus whitepaper “Ensuring Efficient Supplier Risk Management with Supply Chain Transparency.”

Pick Your Battles with Suppliers

Arguments with suppliers can cause major disruptions to production. While disputes are bound to happen, minimizing risks by hiring effective communicators who can arrive at symbiotic compromises will go a long way toward your company’s bottom line as well as maintaining fruitful supplier relations.

It’s also important to pick your battles with suppliers; ultimately if there is a continued conflict with a supplier, it may be time to find a new one.

Utilize Technology To Its Fullest

Modern technology can make a big impact in supply chain risk management if used correctly. 2019 trends include artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT), and blockchain as helpful resources to supplement your supply chain management.

Read more 3 Ways to Better Manage Supply Chain Risk in 2019

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