Risks in the logistics chain are increasing, and the importance of risk prevention is growing. In the field of pharmaceutical logistics, product quality, patient safety and regulatory compliance are at stake.
trans-o-flex has comprehensively overhauled its entire risk preparedness – both its Business Continuity Plan (BCP), and also all its specific emergency response plans. Is the company merely following a trend? Tamara Schulz, Tamara Schulz, emphatically rejects this contention. “Risk prevention is certainly fashionable in logistics right now,” explains the quality-management specialist. “But the risks of being unable to continue with the company’s core operations are not only statistically higher for logistics companies in recent years – they have materialised in very real ways.” Schulz recalls the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to branch closures at several parcel and freight operators because of staff shortages; floods that inundated sites and rendered parcel sorting impossible; hackers who attacked and in some cases paralysed the IT systems of international express carriers; and wars and crises that forced global logistics chains to be altered, which did in practice cause longer transit times, reduced transport capacity, higher rates and delivery bottlenecks.
“But in the pharmaceutical logistics sector, emergency planning goes back much further and has always had strategic significance,” says Schulz. “Without a well-developed BCP, it is almost impossible to guarantee product quality, patient safety and compliance.” For that reason, trans-o-flex already had a dedicated pandemic plan before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Nevertheless, last year the company fundamentally reviewed, adapted and raised its BCP strategy and emergency preparedness plans to a new level. Why did they do this? “Firstly, a BCP is only effective if the plans are updated regularly,” Schulz explains. “Secondly, we learn from events that occur and analyse precisely how to prevent similar events from occurring in the future, reduce the likelihood of them recurring, or limit their impacts.”
These also play a role in the Business Continuity Plan: empty thermo-trailers serve as a buffer for temperature-controlled consignments, for instance during a prolonged power outage. The trailer’s diesel-driven refrigeration units then ensure the correct temperature. Battery buffers ensure that temperature measurement and documentation continue.
Schulz cites examples such as major carrier failures or power outages. “As a consequence, we have developed plans that allow whole sites to cover for one another in an emergency.” Often, however, smaller changes are enough to maintain the continuity of company operations. Current risk prevention plans thus now also take into account modern substitution options such as working from home. “We have ensured that every site has dispatchers who can work from home if their location suffers a prolonged power outage,” says Schulz. Another example of this: to keep temperature-sensitive goods within the correct temperature range and to continue recording and documenting temperature data during a power failure, stock is transferred to thermo-trailers. “Their refrigeration units also operate independently using a diesel engine when stationary. That engine, together with a generator and battery, ensures not only the power required for the temperature control but also continuous measurement and documentation.”
All emergency plans are recorded in the QMS document-management system, which is internally also referred to as the system manual. It also specifies, for each process, the deadlines by which the process must be reviewed and, where necessary, updated. “And because this is part of our certified quality management system, we cannot postpone anything. These processes are likewise checked during the respective recertifications.”
For customers, Schulz says, this means that trans-o-flex has “become more resilient to disruptions of all kinds. That means quality assurance even in exceptional circumstances and the minimisation of risks especially for sensitive consignments. Last but not least, we can better support our customers in their own audits and regulatory requirements.”
