“ We want to be able to cope with the service level requirements of the customer of the future ”
— Michele Palumbo , Head of Supply Chain Management Italy , Bayer
higher service level than if you ’ re delivering a pair of shoes ( with due respect to shoes ).”
Their next challenge was to make sure the supply chain was transparent . Palumbo says they had blind spots when it came to proof of delivery to the customers .
“ This is crucial for pharmaceutical providers , because we ’ re dealing with a very long list of things like changes in temperature , humidity , geolocation , lead times , regulatory and quality compliance , security and sustainability , among others .”
Their solution , which they developed with Murata ID Solutions , was to apply disposable RFID ( Radio-frequency identification ) tags on the shipping cartons and embed permanent ones into the pallets – a technology that enables data to be transmitted cheaply and easily .
“ This helps to identify what the pallets are carrying , and they ’ re also great in terms of the Falsified Medicines Directive ( FMD ) that will be in place in Italy from 2025 , helping to track goods along the supply chain and provide visibility in real time to relevant authorities ,” says Palumbo .
135 supplychaindigital . com