Tag Archives: international

Cold-chain transport vital to COVID-19 vaccine distribution

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Cold-chain transport vital to COVID-19 vaccine distribution

Cold-chain transport vital to COVID-19 vaccine distribution

COVID-19 vaccines developed by China are being shipped to countries across the world.

Produced by one of China’s major vaccine makers, Sinovac Biotech, they must be kept below a specific temperature to remain active.

Before they’re shipped out of a production plant in Beijing, the vaccines are loaded into temperature-controlled containers and sent to the airport by cold-chain trucks.

On Wednesday, a cargo flight from Swissair picked up vaccines at the Beijing Capital International Airport to deliver them to Brazil before Christmas. With international commercial flights hampered by the pandemic, airfreight is now a major mode of vaccine transport.

Beijing Aviation Ground Service (BGS) is the local logistic company responsible for handling the vaccines from the production plant until they are loaded onto an airplane. It is the second company in China certified by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Center of Excellence for Independent Validators in Pharmaceutical Logistics (CEIV Pharma).

“This isn’t a new task for us, but delivering vaccines in such a great quantity is something we haven’t seen before,” said Yan Xin, director of BGS’s International Cargo Division. “We’ve set up a special team to handle the process and to ensure the vaccines are well protected and shipped out in the most efficient way.”

Temperature sensors were put both inside and outside the container to record the temperature throughout transportation, and the team also checked to make sure the containers’ battery was fully charged before it was loaded onto the airplane.

Aviation medicine cold-chain logistics has always been the focus of global airlines. However, opportunities and challenges co-exist in the huge market.

The freight business has become a “sanctuary” for airlines in extremely difficult times, with many operating at unprecedented profits in 2020. When quarantines and blockades disrupt flights, freight costs soar, helping operators keep the remaining passenger routes open and avoid bigger deficits. IATA forecasts that airfreight revenues will triple this year to 36 percent, thanks to a 30-percent rise in average freight prices.

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Mondelez International calls for transparency and sustainability in palm oil supply chain

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One of the world’s leading confectionery, food and beverage companies, has called out to its suppliers for 100% sustainability and 100% transparency in the sourcing of palm oil.

Mondelez International announced in a statement this week that it has challenged its supply chain, as well as the global industry, to be more sustainable and transparent in the production of palm oil.

In 2013, the company announced an action plan for palm oil, which looked to work with its suppliers to achieve 100% traceability to supplier mill level by the end of 2015 while publishing sourcing policies.

This came after the company also ceased buying from palm oil suppliers linked with allegations of illegal forest clearance.

The global palm oil market is forecast to be worth around $92bn by 2021.

“Throughout the years, Mondelēz International has continuously raised the bar for itself and its suppliers and there has been substantial progress in suppliers implementing sustainability policies and improving traceability. Nevertheless, there is more the industry needs to do in the palm oil supply chain to prevent deforestation. Mondelēz International’s suppliers have achieved industry leading levels of traceability with its Palm Oil Action Plan but there remains a gap between the current state and our goal,” said Mondelez in a statement.

Mondelez has called on its suppliers to do more, challenging them to “commit to palm oil concession mapping as a vital step to accountability and change” and “act faster to eliminate deforestation in their palm oil supply through time-bound remediation plans or Mondelēz International will cease contracts with upstream suppliers engaged in deforestation.”

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Supply chain risk is a growing concern for the Pentagon

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As the reliance of The Defense Department and its major contractors on vast global supply chains to provide the systems and weapons the DOD needs to perform its mission increases, so too does the risk. These potential risks come in many forms: the financial failure of a critical supplier; a supplier in violation of labor or environmental standards; or foreign infiltration into critical systems. The government is pushing contractors to provide more information about their supply chains, and this analysis will walk you through the supply chain of DOD’s (and the federal government’s) largest contractor, Lockheed Martin Corp., and uses it as an example of how Bloomberg can help you identify and report on potential risk areas.

Critical Nodes

It is possible to identify 350 of Lockheed’s suppliers by using the supply chain function SPLC on the Bloomberg Professional Service. Bloomberg’s entire supply chain database contains more than 1 million customer/supplier relationships. The same data also shows that some of these companies are highly reliant on Lockheed as a customer. Quickstep Holdings Ltd., a manufacturer of composite materials based in Australia, receives an estimated 70 percent of its revenue from Lockheed. Any change in Lockheed’s fortunes could have downstream effects on highly dependent suppliers like Quickstep.

For the Pentagon, Honeywell International Inc. is a much more critical supplier than Quickstep. Honeywell is a top 10 supplier to Lockheed as well as the other big five defense contractors: Boeing Co., General Dynamics Corp., Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon Co. Many defense programs could be disrupted, and alternative products and suppliers might be difficult to find if Honeywell’s goods and services were suddenly compromised.

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Accelerating Corporate Performance Management – Partnering Finance & Supply Chain

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Corporate Performance Management (CPM) activities time-consuming and labour-intensive, usually because they rely on spreadsheets, old data and outdated manual processes. With financial controls growing increasingly tighter, CPM must be performed effectively. Recently there has been talk of needing Finance and Supply Chain integration to achieve increased corporate performance with them now being key business partners.

The Corporate Performance Management Summit will take place on January 27 & 28, in Miami. Over the two days, the summit will gather over 120+ Finance & Supply Chain professionals to discuss the challenges related to internal performance management and external decision-making. There will be 25+ industry expert keynote speakers, interactive workshops with industry pioneers and over 8 hours of networking opportunities to take advantage of.

Ever considered how to execute performance management initiatives? How to manage external factors in performance management? Or even the role of the CFO in corporate strategy? The summit will explore hot topics such as these, as well as explicitly covering how CFOs can drive strategic performance through acquisitions and harness data to drive decision making. A key component to this summit will also be face-to-face communication and the opportunity to learn from your peers in a truly open environment. ‘The creation of a thought-sharing and interactive setting was always a key aspect for me when creating this summit,’ said Aaron Fraser, International Events Director. ‘I wanted to cultivate a forum for cross-pollination of ideas and advice for those involved in corporate performance management”.

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External Insights Critical to Effective Supply Chain Performance

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Traditional forecasting models that leverage historical data to predict future performance are the tools used by most supply chain executives to plan critical functions, yet these predictions are frequently inaccurate. In fact, research from KPMG International, in cooperation with the Economist Intelligence Unit, shows that most quarterly forecasts are off by 13 percent—meaning that supply chain managers are basing their decisions for ordering materials and scheduling distribution on erroneous projections. The result can mean surpluses or shortages, potentially costing companies millions either way.

There is a better way to anticipate supply chain demands—one that can vastly improve projections, and decrease the discrepancies between forecasting and reality, therefore helping supply chain executives perform their jobs more effectively. Few companies take into account macroeconomic factors, global manufacturing activity, consumer behavior, online traffic, weather data, etc. when making business projections. Yet companies that do identify leading performance indicators using such external data earn more than a 5 percent higher return on equity than those that use only internal metrics. Leveraging external factors, in addition to internal performance measures, is proven to result in more accurate, effective forecasts. Not to mention that improving forecast accuracy can represent huge bottom-line benefits. For a billion dollar manufacturing company, for example, improving forecast accuracy and overall return on equity even 1 percent can equal a $3 million increase in net income.

Forecasting accuracy, improved through external factors, benefits multiple business functions—from financial operations (shareholder value) to human resources (adequate staffing) to marketing (product innovation)—but is especially impactful on the supply chain management function.

Improves Inventory Management

Improved forecast accuracy using external drivers equates to reduced inventory management costs, ultimately improving bottom-line profit. By accounting for external factors, companies can see a 10 to 15 percent improvement in forecast accuracy, significantly decreasing the cost of excess inventory. By ordering raw materials based on correct projections, supply chain managers no longer have to worry about discounts necessary to move excess inventory or the cost of warehousing excess materials because they are ordering accurately from the start.

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