Page 7 - ITLN September - October 2023 for Magzter

or a shipping line or a trucker, is where bags and even medicine in the same
temperature, light and humidity affect truck and will even eat and sleep inside
these products.” that same truck. Because they are not
According to Parikh, moving educated and don't have knowledge of
pharmaceuticals in India is a big how to handle the product.”
challenge because logistics is too These actions in the supply chain
fragmented in the country. can have detrimental effects because
“These are not professional the product can get rejected and
companies that understand the products deteriorate faster.
very well. For a transporter in India, a “We shippers are educating our
bulk of cotton and medicine doesn't have partners including transporters and
any difference. They carry cotton, cement warehouse people how to store, how
to move, what are the consequences
of temperature excursions, which
products should not be exposed to There is a lot of
light and which products should technology available
not be exposed to higher or lower but what we are looking
temperatures. We ensure that for, at a relevant cost
our transporters and warehouse
partners have staff who understand point, is being able to
the pharma storage requirements,” be predictive, preventive
he added. and prescriptive.
One positive sign that Parikh
noticed was the adoption of Vickram Srivastava
technology among logistics partners Sun Pharma
and its effect on the overall pharma
supply chain and he also opines loggers were not able to sustain long
that technology is betting better by journeys in India due to bad roads.
improving efficiency and capacity. They used to malfunction and give
He said, “Earlier, the wrong readings.”
temperature data Another pharma supply chain
professional, who is equally emphatic
about the use of technology, is Vickram
Srivastava. He is Head of Planning -
Global Supply Chain at Sun Pharma.
In his own words, one of the main
challenges in the pharma supply chain
is how we can harness the technology
to bring end-to-end visibility and
drug supply chain security.
“We can leverage technology
and artificial intelligence
to make sure that there is
visibility and transparency,

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www.itln.in September - October 2023