3PLs forming end-to-end healthcare logistics strategies
To increase revenue and market share, 3PLs are improving packaging and delivery systems, entering quality agreements with partner firms, and investing in temperature monitoring, according to Sharan Raj, a lead analyst for logistics research at Technavio.
Technavio’s latest market research report on the global healthcare logistics market predicts close to 6% CAGR growth over the period 2017-2021.
The common challenges faced by many logistics vendors in the healthcare logistics sector are maintaining constant temperatures and dealing with highly complex supply chains during manufacturing. Logistics vendors have great potential for improving their services by providing efficient systems to cater to the temperature-sensitive pharma segment of healthcare.
Logistics vendors are providing cold chain management services to end-user customers and participating in their decision-making processes. Many logistic service providers offer end-to-end cold chain management services, such as inventory management, order scheduling, order forecasting, warehousing, and delivery management. The increase in the provision of end-to-end integrated services by vendors is a trend that is expected to reflect positively on the growth of the global healthcare logistics market during the forecast period.
Cold chain operators must continually upgrade technology to ensure integrity, efficiency, and safety. This includes both front-end devices and back-end IT infrastructure to gather and report key shipment data in real time. For instance, cold chain carriers have increased the use of on-board equipment built into refrigeration units to track location and temperature and to make these data available to shippers and third-party logistics in real time. This provides opportunity and visibility to shippers to prevent or mitigate loss.
