How Vodafone Business IoT Supports the Pharma Supply Chain
According to the Carbon Trust, around US$30bn worth of perishable medicines and vaccines are lost each year because distributors are unable to monitor the environmental status of their shipments in real time.
It’s an eye-watering figure that hammers home an unfortunate reality: safeguarding the delivery of temperature-sensitive medicines remains a persistent challenge for the global pharmaceutical supply chain.
In response to this pressing issue, Vodafone Business IoT and Controlant are on a mission to make the pharmaceutical supply chain more sustainable. Together, their aim is to reduce the waste of perishable medicines and help distributors avoid the unnecessary carbon emissions created by redelivery.
Controlant’s zero-waste ambition
Founded back in 2007, Controlant is a global leader in the digital transformation of pharma supply chains, with a vision to deliver zero-waste supply chains for its partners and the planet.
It provides pharma and logistics companies with environmental monitoring technology that provides data on the temperature, location and light exposure of perishable medicines during transit.
Controlant and Vodafone Business IoT’s real-time monitoring solution avoids 53kg of carbon dioxide emissions (CO2e) per box of medicines delivered when compared to industry averages, The Carbon Trust has found. This represents around 15% of industry average emissions produced across the lifecycle of medicines.
The Carbon Trust – an independent consultancy – says this equates to a total of 16,700 tonnes of CO2e avoided for Controlant’s deliveries made in 2022.
The power of IoT
Vodafone Business IoT and Controlant’s real-time monitoring capability relies on the latter’s Saga devices – reusable data loggers with Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity.
These devices are designed to alert companies if products go out of a set temperature range and enable urgent preventative action.
More than 200,000 Saga devices are in circulation at any single moment – all of them monitored through a centralised platform. But what’s truly essential is that they remain connected throughout the entirety of a transit process.
When it comes to international deliveries, for example, they need reliable connectivity regardless of the mode of transport or continent in which they are travelling. That’s why each device contains a Vodafone Business IoT SIM, providing reliable and secure connectivity through 570 different networks in more than 180 countries worldwide.
“Vodafone is at the forefront when it comes to IoT connectivity,” explains Gísli Herjólfsson, Co-Founder and Co-CEO at Controlant.
“Without them, we wouldn't be able to have our devices speak to us and let us know if something goes wrong.
“Having Vodafone as a central partner means that everything just flows seamlessly, no matter where you come from or where you're going.”
Boosting pharma supply chains
The results of Controlant’s partnership with Vodafone Business IoT are astonishing.
Since implementing IoT technology, Controlant’s pharmaceutical supply chain customers have reported successful delivery rates of more than 99%.
Before, the loss rate of perishable medicines typically stood at around 35%.
During the last financial year, Vodafone Business helped customers avoid around 32.8 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions through its digital technology solutions.
Vodafone Business IoT services such as fleet management, smart metering, connected solar panels and remote patient monitoring have helped customers save almost 80 million tonnes of emissions since 2020.
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