(This article also appeared on business-code.de at the end of December 2021)
Transparency across the entire supply chain is essential for delivering costly vaccines quickly and reliably. The ground-breaking system by the Bonn-based company provides real-time digital transparency across the entire logistics chain.
While end customers can track almost every step of an ordered package in real time, this is often not possible in the B2B sector. Yet this is a key factor in supply chain management. Air freight is expensive and urgent, it must be safe and reach the recipient as quickly as possible, as is currently the case with all COVID-19 vaccines. Tracking is essential and IT-supported real-time monitoring of the freight creates transparency for the different stations on the way to the destination, independent of the respective carrier.
The new software allows individual air freight stations to be tracked in real time on their way to their destination. The carrier knows the location of the freight and can provide information about the time of delivery at any time. Based on this information, the addressee can arrange further schedules, onward transport and necessary coordination with for example vaccination centers in advance.
“The ability to make plans is essential for reliability, and this is particularly important when it comes to the distribution of urgently needed vaccines to combat the Corona Pandemic,” explains Martin Schulze, CEO of BusinessCode GmbH. For marketing the product, BusinessCode founded the start-up company BlueBox Systems GmbH. The first customer for the innovative solution is the globally operating full-service provider Hellmann Worldwide Logistics.
All information on air freight deliveries is presented in a clear and concise manner via a web- based platform, regardless of airline, region or type of freight. The IT solution lists delayed deliveries and displays the latest events for all deliveries and the respective carriers in a user- friendly dashboard. A live image visualizes the GPS coordinates of the airplanes with the freight, divided by color into “delayed”, “imminent delay” and “on time”. The carrier thus sees at a glance what needs to be done, and can act and plan. Digital transparency across the entire supply chain is now easily available in real time. “Logistics for various sectors, such as the automotive and pharmaceutical industries, can benefit from this innovation,” Schulze is convinced.
It is obvious what this means for the delivery of the urgently needed vaccines, if you look at the following figures. One study (McKinsey & Company for DHL) estimates that a worldwide supply of COVID-19 vaccines in different supply chains will require about 200,000 pallet transports, 15 million deliveries in cool boxes and an estimated 15,000 flights. The advantages of the new system are therefore evident. Knowing which items are where and when is essential. This is the key to planning deliveries and vaccination dates, booking transporters, avoiding vacancies in expensive special coolers and long waiting times.