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Pharma industry needs to adopt IoT to improve supply chain efficiency: GoComet
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Laxmi Yadav, Mumbai
September 20 , 2017
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Indian pharmaceutical industry, one of the largest exporters of
pharmaceuticals in the world, needs to adopt technologies like the
Internet of Things (IoT) to get improved supply chain visibility, theft
protection, cold chain monitoring and real time inventory management,
said Chitransh Sahai, GoComet, director for corporate relations.
GoComet
aims at bridging the international logistics industry online by
connecting multiple modes (air, ocean and road) via a centralized
system. The company’s mission is to create a platform connecting
businesses and freight forwarders to facilitate effortless movement of
cargo with the help of technology.
Though the pharma sector is
one of the leading adopters of IT in the country with customers
expecting increased use of technology in enhancing customer engagement
and multichannel interactions as revealed by Veeva 2016 Digital in
Indian Pharma Survey, there are still certain gaps that it needs to
close especially in adopting technologies like the Internet of Things in
giving real time visibility to their cold chains, said Sahai.
Pharma
supply chain costs are higher than best-in-class firms. The value chain
becomes highly complicated owing to the largely international nature of
the business. As a result, the logistics cost for pharma companies is
speculated to be more than 25 per cent as per a report published by
McKinsey.
Many pharmaceutical products are temperature
controlled and a small fluctuation in temperature/ventilation due to
irregular electricity supply can result in the damage of cargo. This is
becoming a concern for pharma companies as cold chain movement is
estimated to cost them $17 billion by 2020, he said.
Adoption of
technology can potentially help Indian pharmaceutical industry mitigate
supply chain lead time, reduce cost and track cargo movement thereby
bringing overall efficiency in supply chain, he added.
Most
pharma shipments are time constrained and are transported globally via
airlines. Given the scenario, a minor mishap in coordination can lead to
the consignment missing the scheduled flight. Such situations may also
compel the company to book the next flight at a very high expense,
and/or high demurrage/detention costs.
Besides this, a large
chunk of industry players including importers and exporters still faces
issues with negotiating on the right price and ensuring transparency
while selecting freight services. Complication of international
logistics business is said to be the reason behind this.
GoComet
with a network of large number of freight forwarders and customs house
agents (CHAs) helps create value for exporters and importers by ensuring
that they get access to the best rates of the market and choose from a
wide variety of services too. As a result customers can move cargo
internationally at significantly lower costs and better reliability as
compared to their competitors.
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