When it comes to serving the needs of the pharma vertical , data is king . Shippers want as much information as possible before , during and after the delivery . And they expect flexibility within minutes .
Pillow Logistics in Indianapolis . The company services primarily the middle and final mile segments . They move everything from lab specimens to human organs on the medical side and as well as pharma , both specialty and controlled substances .
CLDA Magazine recently interviewed Matt for his take on meeting the delivery needs of shippers in the medical industry . Here ’ s what he told us :
CLDA Mag : Tell us about the pharma work Pillow Logistics handles .
Straub : We service the entire supply chain network for several large hospital networks . Our contractors transport everything from hospital beds and ventilators to delivering pharmaceuticals . We transport frozen specimens , radioactive pharma , cell therapies , controlled and non-controlled meds . We truly provide logistics support for the entire supply chain network . Our services are customized for the needs of each client . It just really depends on what the needs of the organization are .
CLDA Mag : What unique about this sector ?
Straub : The chain of custody for pharmaceuticals requires greater oversight . For example many of the meds , especially those that are controlled substances like narcotics , require e a photo ID and signature verification . What ’ s kind of surprising is that even today many of these hospital networks and pharmacies systems still require signed paperwork due to some insurance requirements .
CLDA Mag : What ’ s the biggest change you ’ ve seen in this sector in the last five years ?
Straub : Healthcare and pharmaceutical alike are requiring more transparency of data in real time . Pharmacy managers , supply chain , and buyers ask the question : Can we get the data ? What time was the order placed ? When did the courier pick the order up ? When did the patient sign for the medication ? How quickly can they get to the data ? What can they do with that data when they get it ? With our API , any of our customers with an IT department can tie into our system and download anything they want . They can see almost everything I see .
Today , customers want raw data . Five years ago , I ’ d have a weekly call with a medical client and go through our on-time performance . Nowadays they don ’ t want that . They want raw data . They may want to talk to me every week about the data , but they don ’ t want my take on it . They want to do their own analysis .
There ’ s no hiding your mistakes or your time misses in today ’ s environment . They ’ re visible . They can reconcile those time windows quickly by themselves without me .
winter 2023 I customized logistics & delivery Magazine 25