Pierre-Francois Thaler is co-CEO and co-founder of EcoVadis (ecovadis.com), a provider of a collaborative platform for measuring and rating corporate social responsibility in global supply chains.
A shift from mass delivery of pharmaceuticals will create exponentially more touch points throughout the supply chain. That could be a problem; even without these new layers,
most companies struggle to achieve visibility beyond their tier-one suppliers.
When there's a major scientific or medical breakthrough, there is pressure on the business community to deliver it to the masses as quickly as possible. From the combustion engine to penicillin, the pressing need for widespread distribution of new solutions tends to burden one behind-the-scenes area of business in particular: the supply chain.
One of the latest innovations poised to disrupt the supply chain is again coming from the pharmaceutical industry. Through the study of genomics and the use of big data, it's now possible to create personalized medication to provide better care for patients based on their unique biochemistry. Certain medications—for treating diseases like
breast cancer, for example—can now be modified to eliminate detrimental side effects that a small percentage of people suffer when using the standard version of those drugs. This can be done by identifying the gene that contributes to that rare response and tweaking the drug to treat only that tiny population. This is a major step away from the established methods of treatment through mass-produced drugs.
Just as this signals a shift in the way the medical industry thinks about treatment, it also ushers in a new era for the supply chain. It's not clear, though, that pharmaceutical companies and their suppliers are prepared for the changes to come. According to health-care journalist Martin Barrow, "While attention has focused on the potential of personalized medicine to improve outcomes, the impact on manufacturing and the downstream supply chain may have been underestimated."
Individualized drugs and related services will present the pharmaceutical industry with significant new challenges that run contrary to traditional strategies of drug production, storage, and distribution en masse. For example, even before the execution of delivery begins, pharmaceutical companies will likely be tasked with identifying new suppliers that can achieve the required level of mass—yet patient-specific—customization, on demand.
In this new scenario, manufacturers will need to implement a new set of tools, techniques, and supplies to source and implement the testing and validation of each unique batch of drugs. Intellectual property may also be perilously exposed, as new players are brought into the sourcing process. The pharmaceutical industry will need solutions that help thoroughly vet this process to be sure that suppliers at every stage are not only compliant with regulations, but also are top performers that can meet the on-demand requirement of personalized treatment. "Batch sizes will shrink, requiring the development of more nimble systems perhaps capable of making several different products that same day while maintaining control and integrity of each product,"
said Barrow.
In addition to the speed required under this new model, the pharmaceutical supply chain will become more complex than ever. The shift away from mass delivery will create exponentially more touch points throughout the process that starts with drug manufacturing and ends with a patient filling a personalized prescription. Even without these additional layers in the supply chain,
most companies struggle to achieve a depth of visibility beyond their tier-one suppliers. This is already
one of the most difficult challenges for procurement professionals today, and this issue will be exacerbated in pharma with the adoption of personalized medicine.
Frighteningly, further down in the supply chain, among the multiple levels of sub-suppliers, is where the most difficult-to-detect risks often lie. Keeping track of what tier-one suppliers are doing isn't a challenge for most companies, but it becomes increasingly difficult to monitor the next tier—your suppliers' suppliers—and the next tier, and so on. Some suppliers might be reluctant to put a large multinational corporation into direct contact with their own suppliers out of fear of being bypassed, or worse, in an effort to conceal misconduct. Without a solution to connect the dots, the opacity created by a complex network of suppliers increases risk as information gets inadvertently lost or even deliberately buried by bad actors deep in the supply chain. This giant, high-stakes game of "telephone" only gets trickier with more players involved, as is necessary to deliver personalized medicine.
Not understanding the intricate details of the supply chain can expose pharma companies to major threats. As pharmaceutical organizations react to the shift toward personalized medicine, they must consider the logistics capabilities that will be necessary to keep their supply chains up to speed. These are unlikely to be minor changes. For example, wholly new partnerships may have to be negotiated, especially in the "last mile" of the supply chain, where delivery and storage of customized drugs will look vastly different from the legacy processes that delivered and stored mass treatments. Moreover, the ethics, responsibility, and sustainability of suppliers are critically important to the broader organization in any industry, but especially when pharmaceuticals and potentially life-altering medication is involved. Increased transparency could be the factor that makes or breaks successful efforts; knowing exactly where, when, and how materials are sourced, manufactured, and distributed provides the opportunity to mitigate risk and prevent potential health, safety, and public relations blunders in the future.
"Future supply chains must adjust much more quickly with the right set of traceability capabilities to report on where the drugs went, who bought them, and how they were purchased, if not on the individual level, then at least at the wholesale and pharmacy level," according to Barrow. Pharmaceutical organizations need to not only put in place a new process to centralize supplier assessments and help eliminate silos that contribute to opacity but also get buy in from the decision makers in each team or function. Before the benefits of personalized medicine can reach the millions of people who need potentially life-saving treatment, it's the supply chain that will need to make life-or-death decisions in order to bring this latest breakthrough to fruition.
The venture-backed fleet telematics technology provider Platform Science will acquire a suite of “global transportation telematics business units” from supply chain technology provider Trimble Inc., the firms said Sunday.
Trimble's other core transportation business units — Enterprise, Maps, Vusion and Transporeon — are not included in the proposed transaction and will remain part of Trimble's Transportation & Logistics segment, with a continued focus on priority growth areas following completion of the proposed transaction.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed but as part of this agreement, Colorado-based Trimble will become a shareholder in Platform Science's expanded business. Specifically, Trimble will have a 32.5% stake in the newly expanded global Platform Science business and will receive a Platform Science board seat. The company joins C.R. England, Cummins, Daimler Truck, PACCAR, Prologis, RyderVentures, and Schneider as a key strategic investor in Platform Science along with financial investors 8VC, Activant Capital, BDT & MSD Partners, Softbank, and NewRoad Capital Partners.
According to San Diego-based Platform Science, the proposed transaction aims to enhance driver experience, fleet safety, efficiency, and compliance by combining two cutting-edge in-cab commercial vehicle ecosystems, which will give customers access to more applications and offerings.
From Trimble customers’ point of view, they will continue to enjoy the benefits of their Trimble solutions, with the added flexibility of the Virtual Vehicle platform from Platform Science. That means Virtual Vehicle-enabled fleets will receive access to the Virtual Vehicle Marketplace, offering hundreds of new and expanded applications, software, and solution providers focused on innovating and improving drivers' quality of life and fleet performance.
Meanwhile, Platform Science customers will enjoy the added choice of Trimble's remaining portfolio of transportation solutions which will be available on the Virtual Vehicle platform, the partners said.
"We believe combining our global transportation telematics portfolio with Platform Science's will further advance fleet mobility and provide our customers with a broader portfolio of solutions to solve industry problems," Rob Painter, president and CEO of Trimble, said in a release. "Increased collaboration between the new Platform Science business and Trimble's remaining transportation businesses will enhance our ability to provide positive outcomes for our global customers of commercial mapping, transportation management, freight procurement, and visibility solutions. This deal will result in significant synergies along with tremendous opportunities for employees to continue to grow in a more-competitive business."
The acquisition comes just five months after Platform Science raised $125 million in growth capital from some of the biggest names in freight trucking, saying the money would help accelerate innovation in the commercial transportation sector.
Nearly one-third of American consumers have increased their secondhand purchases in the past year, revealing a jump in “recommerce” according to a buyer survey from ShipStation, a provider of web-based shipping and order fulfillment solutions.
The number comes from a survey of 500 U.S. consumers showing that nearly one in four (23%) Americans lack confidence in making purchases over $200 in the next six months. Due to economic uncertainty, savvy shoppers are looking for ways to save money without sacrificing quality or style, the research found.
Younger shoppers are leading the charge in that trend, with 59% of Gen Z and 48% of Millennials buying pre-owned items weekly or monthly. That rate makes Gen Z nearly twice as likely to buy second hand compared to older generations.
The primary reason that shoppers say they have increased their recommerce habits is lower prices (74%), followed by the thrill of finding unique or rare items (38%) and getting higher quality for a lower price (28%). Only 14% of Americans cite environmental concerns as a primary reason they shop second-hand.
Despite the challenge of adjusting to the new pattern, recommerce represents a strategic opportunity for businesses to capture today’s budget-minded shoppers and foster long-term loyalty, Austin, Texas-based ShipStation said.
For example, retailers don’t have to sell used goods to capitalize on the secondhand boom. Instead, they can offer trade-in programs swapping discounts or store credit for shoppers’ old items. And they can improve product discoverability to help customers—particularly older generations—find what they’re looking for.
Other ways for retailers to connect with recommerce shoppers are to improve shipping practices. According to ShipStation:
70% of shoppers won’t return to a brand if shipping is too expensive.
51% of consumers are turned off by late deliveries
40% of shoppers won’t return to a retailer again if the packaging is bad.
The “CMA CGM Startup Awards”—created in collaboration with BFM Business and La Tribune—will identify the best innovations to accelerate its transformation, the French company said.
Specifically, the company will select the best startup among the applicants, with clear industry transformation objectives focused on environmental performance, competitiveness, and quality of life at work in each of the three areas:
Shipping: Enabling safer, more efficient, and sustainable navigation through innovative technological solutions.
Logistics: Reinventing the global supply chain with smart and sustainable logistics solutions.
Media: Transform content creation, and customer engagement with innovative media technologies and strategies.
Three winners will be selected during a final event organized on November 15 at the Orange Vélodrome Stadium in Marseille, during the 2nd Artificial Intelligence Marseille (AIM) forum organized by La Tribune and BFM Business. The selection will be made by a jury chaired by Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman and CEO of the Group, and including members of the executive committee representing the various sectors of CMA CGM.
Economic activity in the logistics industry expanded in August, though growth slowed slightly from July, according to the most recent Logistics Manager’s Index report (LMI), released this week.
The August LMI registered 56.4, down from July’s reading of 56.6 but consistent with readings over the past four months. The August reading represents nine straight months of growth across the logistics industry.
The LMI is a monthly gauge of economic activity across warehousing, transportation, and logistics markets. An LMI above 50 indicates expansion, and a reading below 50 indicates contraction.
Inventory levels saw a marked change in August, increasing more than six points compared to July and breaking a three-month streak of contraction. The LMI researchers said this suggests that after running inventories down, companies are now building them back up in anticipation of fourth-quarter demand. It also represents a return to more typical growth patterns following the accelerated demand for logistics services during the Covid-19 pandemic and the lows of the recent freight recession.
“This suggests a return to traditional patterns of seasonality that we have not seen since pre-COVID,” the researchers wrote in the monthly LMI report, published Tuesday, adding that the buildup is somewhat tempered by increases in warehousing capacity and transportation capacity.
The LMI report is based on a monthly survey of logistics managers from across the country. It tracks industry growth overall and across eight areas: inventory levels and costs; warehousing capacity, utilization, and prices; and transportation capacity, utilization, and prices. The report is released monthly by researchers from Arizona State University, Colorado State University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rutgers University, and the University of Nevada, Reno, in conjunction with the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP).
That hiring surge marks a significant jump in relation to the company’s nearly 17,000 current employees across North America, adding 21% more workers.
That increase is necessary because U.S. holiday sales in 2023 increased 3.9% year-over-year as consumer spending grew even amidst uncertain economic times and trends like inflation and consumer price sensitivity. Looking at the coming peak, a similar pattern is projected for this year, with shoppers forecasted to drive a 4.8% increase in holiday retail sales for 2024, Geodis said, citing data from Emarketer.
To attract the extra workforce, Geodis says it will offer competitive wages, peak premium pay incentives, peak and referral bonuses, an expedited payment option, and flexible schedules. And it’s using an AI-powered chatbot named Sophie to serve as a virtual recruiting assistant.
“We acknowledge the immense responsibility we have to our customers to deliver exceptional service every day, and this is especially true during peak season,” Anthony Jordan, GEODIS in Americas Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, said in a release. “Because peak season is the most business-critical sales period of the year for many of our retail clients, expanding our workforce is vital to ensure we have a flexible, dynamic team that can handle anticipated surges in demand.”