Take full control of cold-chain management
The Dixie Jet by Panalpina provides a true temperature-controlled
environment that is
perfect for the reliable, cost-effective and fast
transport of sensitive pharmaceutical and
medical technology products. In a proactive approach,
the company’s healthcare experts
showed a medical technology company how it could
improve its supply chain.
The primary challenge of companies in the healthcare
industry is to maintain compliance, product integrity
and security along their supply chain; however,
this has led to rising logistical and transport
costs.
|
|
 |
| |
Panalpina shortens the
supply chain through the Dixie Jet, its
own controlled cool plane.
|
To combat this problem, Panalpina approached
a US company that develops medical technology
and services. The firm has operations and manufacturing
facilities across the world and sells products
for the treatment of cardiac and neurological
pain patients in more than 100 countries.
Panalpina analysed the company's complete
supply chain,
identified the key challenges and presented a
tailored solution.
Multiple challenges
The main challenge was reducing overall transportation
costs
and making the supply chain leaner and more transparent,
while maintaining controlled temperature conditions
throughout the transportation of sensitive products.
When Panalpina approached the company, it was
shipping
freight from Latin America (production) via two
different
locations in the US (sterilisation and preparations
for export) to
Europe using commercial carriers. This made the
supply chain
very complex, visibility was poor, logistics costs
were high and
flexibility was low.
Tailored solution
Panalpina successfully demonstrated how the supply
chain
could be greatly improved. Its solution took the
complexity out
of the supply chain, made it more visible (order
forecast) and
guaranteed controlled temperature conditions.
Panalpina could
shorten the supply chain by offering its own controlled
'cool
plane': the Dixie Jet.
The Dixie Jet was launched in 1990 and is one
of the longest
existing, single transatlantic cargo connections.
Thanks to this
unique service between Huntsville, Alabama, and
Luxembourg,
one air freight leg in the US could be eliminated.
With five
eastbound flights per week (four westbound) the
service offers
sufficient capacity, high flexibility, a stable
supply chain and
100% visibility: every flight is fully controlled
by Panalpina.
True temperature-controlled environment
The Boeing 747-400F planes used for the Dixie
Jet provide a
true temperature-controlled environment, because
the
temperature in a designated cargo area of the
plane can be
controlled and monitored from the cockpit.
Temperature control could therefore be changed
from an
active to a passive and more cost-effective solution
with thermo
blankets. These blankets protect the goods by
covering the
complete unit load device. The temperature is
not only
monitored onboard the plane, but also throughout
the whole
transport system, from door to door. This is achieved
through an
end-to-end, proactive temperature monitoring and
control setup
based on radio-frequency identification.
Various benefits
The customer benefits from Panalpina's proactive
approach and the implemented solution in the following
ways:
- full supply chain visibility
- own-controlled air freight service guaranteeing
sufficient
capacity and flexibility
- controlled product temperature ruling out
temperature
excursions and damages
- lean, smooth and stable supply chain
- reduced logistics costs
- reduced total lead time and a shorter order-to-cash
cycle
- improved CO2 footprint (estimated reduction
of 172t of
CO2 per year).
|
