Improving the Reliability and Security of Global Cold Chain Logistics
guidance regarding the need to have a
hardware root of trust built into the silicon
used in the processing units of internet-
connected devices.
R ISKS A SSOCIATED WITH G LOBAL
C OLD C HAINS
A vaccine must make a long journey from
fabrication in a lab to administration in the
field. Along the way, there are many
opportunities for both observed and
unobserved damage.
To further complicate matters, it is nearly
impossible to maintain an always-on
internet connection throughout a global cold
chain. Great advances have been made in
cellular- and satellite-based communication
networks but we must still accept a small
amount of network downtown either during
access-point handoffs or failovers.
Handoff
As damage can occur at any point in the cold
chain, we cannot defer inspection solely
toward the end of the chain. Typically there
is some level of inspection at the handoff
between stages in a cold chain. The
inspections, for practicality, typically involve
a sample of the assets instead of the entire
population. For additive manufacturing (i.e.,
liquids and gases), a sample can be
intrinsically
trusted.
For
discrete
manufacturing (i.e., solids), the likelihood of
tampering and forgery increases drastically.
Heterogenous Operating Conditions
There have been many attempts at creating
frameworks to describe the utility of cold
chain logistics systems, particularly for food.
As there is typically a different handler for
each stage of the cold chain (e.g.,
warehousing versus local delivery) and form
factors between stages. This heterogeneity
of inputs and outputs for different stages
means we cannot assume a single container
and connectivity type can be used to truly
observe a cold chain from start to finish.
A palette with hundreds of assets will most
likely be inspected by taking a sample from
the outer layer of the palette. This ease of
access reduces the complexity of the
inspection but also increases the temptation
for replacement, forgery, or other types of
tampering. Vaccine vial monitors (VVMs) can
be used to provide evidence of heat
damage 8 , but damaged vials can be hidden
within larger lots midway through the cold
chain. Also, VVMs cannot detect damage
This fact of heterogenous operating
conditions has led to optimization focused
on a single stage of the cold chain. 7 While we
should strive to improve what we can, it is a
folly to overly optimize one stage (e.g.,
regional distribution centers) while
neglecting another stage (e.g., local
delivery).
7
Accorsi, R., Cholette, S., Manzini, R. and Tufano, A. (2018). A hierarchical data architecture for sustainable food supply chain
management and planning. Journal of Cleaner Production, 203, pp.1039-1054.
8
Vaccination: rattling the supply chain. (2011). Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 89(5), pp.324-325.
IIC Journal of Innovation
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