In this exclusive interview, learn how UPS Healthcare’s investments in robotics, track-and-trace solutions, and digital platforms are setting new standards in healthcare logistics.
As we navigate the complex world of healthcare, it’s easy to overlook the intricate logistics that make everything possible.
Behind the scenes, there’s a carefully coordinated effort to ensure that temperature-sensitive medications, life-saving medical devices and critical healthcare products are delivered safely and on time.
For many, these deliveries are a matter of life and death.
In this interview, Wanis El Kabbaj, Senior Director of Global Marketing at UPS Healthcare, discusses the transformative power of logistics in healthcare.
He explains how UPS Healthcare is leading the charge in revolutionizing healthcare supply chains, making sure that crucial medical goods reach their destinations securely and efficiently.
El Kabbaj highlights the unsung heroes of healthcare logistics, those who ensure that life-saving drugs and fragile medical devices arrive where they are needed.
With UPS Healthcare’s innovative solutions, cutting-edge technology and commitment to precision, the company is playing a key role in shaping the future of healthcare logistics.
How does UPS Healthcare differentiate itself in the highly competitive logistics and supply chain market, particularly in serving healthcare clients?
When you look to the future of healthcare, it’s all about innovations in biologics, specialty pharmaceuticals, and personalized medicine – to help support aging populations and manage problems related to chronic disease.
55% of the drugs in the development pipeline are biologics.
When biologics are involved, cold chain and temperature monitoring services are needed.
These products make up most of the new products in development and is driving significant demand for precision logistics.
We’ve been investing to meet the needs of this growing and evolving market for a long time, building out a ‘network within a network’ to make sure we provide the best quality, end-to-end service on the market for healthcare shippers that are at the forefront of innovation.
These investments include advanced technologies like robotics, automated picking systems, and track-and-trace solutions have a vital role as they help streamline order fulfillment, reduce errors, increase efficiency, and ensure continued regulatory compliance.
If a customer is looking for someone to manage everything from clinical to commercial, we are really the only solution that can take care of the full, end-to-end supply chain.
Managing temperature-sensitive shipments is critical in healthcare logistics. How does UPS Healthcare ensure the integrity and reliability of such deliveries?
The need for cold-chain infrastructure, real-time visibility, location and temperature intervention during disruptions; it’s critical to have these things in place.
Rapid advances in digital technology create opportunities to optimize almost every aspect of the supply chain, from production to delivery.
You can create a comprehensive data stream from pick-up to delivery that makes a supply chain ‘smarter’ and, by extension, more resilient – especially if one area were to experience delays. However, harnessing real-time data is only one-half of the equation. Being able to act on this data – having ‘control’ – is the other.
Now this can all sound abstract, but when you consider even 0.5% of pharma shipments impacted or spoiled by temperature can incur substantial costs (in the millions) – not to mention affect patients – we can see how important the underpinning of physical and software-based digital infrastructure is.
Whether it’s in response to weather, geopolitical issues, or the need to re-route time-sensitive, high-value shipments there is an urgent need to combine digital and physical networks.
The best logistics partners can provide a ‘control tower’ overview of an entire supply chain. Through both visibility and control, the digital and the physical can reveal many ways to improve collaboration and efficiency that lead to smart, fast, sustainable decisions based on real-time data instead of guesswork.
Perhaps most importantly this is also indicative of a shift from reactive to proactive based on the predictive powers of these technologies.
How does UPS Healthcare’s use of advanced track-and-trace solutions, such as UPS Premier and the new Supply Chain Symphony™ platform, enhance visibility and coordination across the supply chain, and what impact does this have on overall efficiency and resilience?
Track-and-trace solutions, like our very own UPS Premier, are also becoming so advanced they can now log humidity, light exposure and a series of other metrics, allowing them to be easily rerouted and located anywhere globally to within 3 meters thanks to mobile technology.
We call it orchestration, with a supply chain powered by technology that makes our networks more seamless, adaptable, and resilient. Technology alone isn’t enough—coordination and orchestration of processes across departments are critical to fully harness its benefits.
To tie everything together, we have recently introduced the UPS Supply Chain Symphony™ platform. It is a new tool that integrates various supply chain components, including shipping, warehousing, and inventory management, into a single platform. This unified approach empowers UPS customers to operate more efficiently, gain better visibility into their supply chains, and more effectively address challenges as they arise.
What strategies does UPS Healthcare employ to maintain compliance with global regulations for medical and pharmaceutical deliveries?
Complex healthcare shipments are some of the most heavily regulated in the world, requiring temperature monitoring, quality documentation through a chain of custody and have tight handling needs and expiration dates.
You must be very good at understanding regulation and enabling audit defensibility for your customers, all underpinned by a culture of service. After all, it’s patients who matter the most.
We have hundreds of people worldwide whose sole focus is on quality assurance – that’s how important it is for us.
UPS Healthcare supports logistics for both large healthcare systems and smaller clinics. How do you tailor your solutions to meet the unique needs of different types of clients?
These shipments are some of the most sensitive in the world, and necessary temperature and visibility control remain an issue for many. The need for cold-chain infrastructure, real-time visibility and location, temperature intervention during disruptions, it’s critical to have these things in place to properly execute along the supply chain.
But you don’t just stockpile these solutions on a shelf. It is not a one-size-fits-all solution. These are one-size-fits-one solutions. Which means the supply chain needs to be significantly different and rely on a multi modal logistics network that can adapt to our customers and their patient’s needs.
Can you discuss any recent partnerships, initiatives, or investments in the Middle East that are enhancing your footprint and services in the region?
We’re investing more than a billion dollars from 2024 through 2026 to expand our global footprint.
Thanks to our integrated, multimodal network, the Middle East’s leading pharmaceutical, medical device, and laboratory companies will have access to new and traditional markets.
Looking ahead, what key trends do you foresee shaping the future of healthcare logistics, and how is UPS Healthcare preparing for them?
Everyone has seen the major advances in AI, and we should expect it to play an increasing role in supply chain management. It can analyze weather, traffic, and predict delays even before they happen and it allows us to optimize routes, reduce driver time, reducing fuel consumption, and be more accurate with delivery window times all optimizing order management.
We also expect to see continued growth in home health, whether that’s telemedicine, diagnostics or delivery of treatments. There are many benefits of taking treatment out of hospitals and facilities if it’s not needed, but it requires a shift in supply chains and particularly how we deliver these time and temperature sensitive products in the last mile.
These shifts will require even better orchestration of our physical and digital assets, but thankfully our work with the healthcare industry has so far provided a very good roadmap for leveraging technology in critical supply chain sectors and how it can be adapted for digitization.
And if we work to this level of precision for these products and industries – then why not others?
