Month: February 2022

Member spotlight – Robust, Reliable, Reusable: Delivering pharmaceuticals to patients safely and efficiently

In the face of an ever-changing, turbulent pharmaceutical supply chain where demand is only increasing, stakeholders continue to require robust, reliable, reusable cold storage solutions, to provide effective temperature sensitive control to protect the integrity of pharmaceutical products.

The baseline requirement for pharmaceutical logistics is that products should arrive on time, undamaged and with no temperature excursions.

Choosing the most appropriate cold chain solution makes all the difference.

At Tower, our critical objective is to improve the quality and consistency of pharmaceutical deliveries across the market.

We achieve this through innovative structural design of our passive containers, meaning products are transported without the need for in-transit manual intervention.

Our containers are intended to perform in all supply chains, regardless of transport type or environment – ensuring product integrity for patients and pharmaceutical businesses alike.

When shipping temperature sensitive products, it is vital to have a reliable packaging partner who can ensure each container will deliver the correct performance for every shipment.

Here reliability is key, and all Tower containers offer 120 hours temperature compliance in any environment, anywhere in the world.

Data downloaded from over 15,000 shipments has demonstrated fewer than 0.1% of temperature excursions on average, a vital indicator in the maintenance of the cold chain.

Focusing on delivering a consistent customer outcome whatever the location is always a priority and manufacturers will indeed source freight from those who have the most optimised supply chain networks.

Those who can offer customers a network of fully stocked hubs located across multiple countries provide the proximity and availability required by today’s global supply chains.

The increased pressure for greener supply chain management within the pharmaceutical industry is also forcing many to reassess their processes.

Reusable storage containers have rapidly grown to become a favoured method for sustainable medical logistics.

By providing a multi-use solution they offer a substantially reduced environmental profile, simply by the fact that they stay in market circulation for a longer time, thereby decreasing the amount of packaging waste produced.

Clearly, all players in the cold chain have a role to play in sustainability and by ensuring our containers are both robust and reusable we are contributing to our customers circular supply-chain ambitions.

Indeed, it is the overall combination of delivering robust, reliable, reusable cold storage solutions, that customers value most in today’s global supply network and one that drives our focus within Tower Cold Chain.

New CCA members

We are pleased to welcome three new members to the CCA, LOT Polish Airlines, Tower Cold Chain, and Challenge Group.

LOT is the sixth airline to join CCA’s growing membership.

“By joining the CCA and taking part in the Risk Management Committee, we hope to create common global standards and work towards a safe environment for handling pharmaceutical and healthcare products across the temperature-controlled supply chain,” said Kamil Rarak, Special Cargo Product Development and Training Manager, LOT Polish Airlines.

“We were awarded the International Air Transport Association (IATA)’s Center of Excellence for Independent Validators in Pharmaceutical Logistics (CEIV) Pharmaceutical Certificate in 2020 and we are focused on supporting our global business partners in the field of healthcare products.”

Tower Cold Chain supplies specialist temperature-controlled containers.

“We are delighted to join the CCA and look forward to collaborating to ensure pharmaceuticals are handled and transported by means of robust, reliable, reusable solutions,” said

Nick Gilmore, Global Head of Sales and Marketing, Tower Cold Chain.

“Through working together, Tower can better assist the temperature-sensitive supply chain to reduce temperature excursions and waste and improve sustainability, to benefit the pharmaceutical community.”

Global air cargo group Challenge’s six companies include cargo airlines, handlers, and logistics services, and its subsidiary carrier

CAL Cargo Airlines is a leading carrier of perishables on the Israel to Europe trade lane.

It has a portfolio of temperature-controlled products covering perishables and pharmaceuticals and holds the IATA CEIV certification for its two airlines, CAL and Challenge Airlines, as well as for Challenge Handling in Liège, Belgium.

CAL Cargo Airlines will join the CCA’s newly developed Technical Committee, with the aim of supporting tangible projects and initiatives to drive improvements in the cool supply chain.

“By joining the CCA, we know we can make a concrete contribution to raise industry standards as an active member of the Technical Committee,” said Gianluca Marcangelo, Senior Manager Cargo Transformation, Challenge Group.

“We are looking forward to networking with other members and enhance our industry engagement to build strategic and long-term business partnership.”

For more information

www.lot.com

www.towercoldchain.com

www.cal-cargo.com

New Risk Management Committee launched

We have launched our first project under the Technical Committee Programme, which aims is to assist, analyse, study, and manage critical points affecting product quality along the cool chain, as well as developing standards, and initiating projects.

Under the sponsorship of our Board member Eric Mauroux, the Risk Management Committee includes shipper, airline, and forwarder members, led by Stefan Braun, Managing Director of SmartCAE.

“The group will focus on developing digital risk management strategies in order to move towards more efficient and smarter pharma and perishable supply chains,” said Mauroux, 

“We will identify case studies to help us adapt solutions, which are cost-effective and sustainable, as key drivers to reducing the risk of waste.”

Committee members include: Rogier Rook, Logistics Director, Nature’s Pride; Kamil Rarak, Special Cargo Product Development and Training Manager; LOT Polish Airline; and, Xavier Ripoll, Sales and Marketing Director, Able Freight, with a pharmaceutical company due to join soon.

“We need to collect the right information and bring trust to the table so that we can come up with smart cost-effective solutions,

understand the actual cost of inefficiencies and move away from over engineered solutions,” said Mauroux.

“CCA is a neutral party that can help reconcile the virtual world with real historical data and develop positive solutions where the total cost reflects what is needed to get the job done.”

Under the Technical Committee program, CCA members who are not Board members can volunteer to become Project Coordinators, responsible for the facilitation of initiatives and the proposal of final solutions to the Board. If you have a project in mind, please contact  cca@meantime.global

Picture caption: Pictured left to right top Kamil Rarak, Special Cargo Product Development and Training Manager, LOT Polish Airlines; Rogier Rook, Logistics Director, Nature’s Pride; left to right bottom Stefan Braun, Managing Director, SmartCAE; Xavier Ripoll, Sales and Marketing Director, Able Freight; and Eric Mauroux, CCA Board member and President of Freshbizdev.

Cool Chain Association welcomes two new members and kicks off its Technical Committee with a risk management project

LOT Polish Airlines and Tower Cold Chain are the latest members to join the Cool Chain Association

Luxembourg, Wednesday 9th February 2022The Cool Chain Association (CCA) has continued to grow its membership with the addition of LOT Polish Airlines and Tower Cold Chain.

The Association, whose members collaborate towards improving quality in the temperature-sensitive supply chain, has also announced the formation of a new committee looking into risk management as part of its Technical Committee programme.

LOT is the sixth airline to join CCA’s growing membership.

“By joining the CCA and taking part in the Risk Management Committee, we hope to create common global standards and work towards a safe environment for handling pharmaceutical and healthcare products across the temperature-controlled supply chain,” said Kamil Rarak, Special Cargo Product Development and Training Manager, LOT Polish Airlines.

“We were awarded the International Air Transport Association Center of Excellence for Independent Validators in Pharmaceutical Logistics (CEIV Pharma) Certificate in 2020 and we are focused on supporting our global business partners in the field of healthcare products.”

Tower Cold Chain, supplies specialist temperature-controlled containers.

“We are delighted to join the CCA and look forward to collaborating to ensure pharmaceuticals are handled and transported by means of robust, reliable, reusable solutions,” said Nick Gilmore, Global Head of Sales and Marketing, Tower Cold Chain.

“Through working together, Tower can better assist the temperature-sensitive supply chain to reduce excursions and waste and improve sustainability, to benefit the pharmaceutical community.”

The CCA’s Risk Management Committee, which held its first full meeting last week, is sponsored by CCA Board member Eric Mauroux, President of Freshbizdev, and includes shipper, airline, and forwarder members, led by Stefan Braun, Managing Director of SmartCAE.

“The group will focus on developing digital risk management strategies in order to move towards more efficient and smarter pharma and perishable supply chains,” said Mauroux,

“We will identify case studies to help us adapt solutions, which are cost-effective and sustainable, as key drivers to reducing the risk of waste.”

Committee members include: Rogier Rook, Logistics Director, Nature’s Pride; Kamil Rarak, Special Cargo Product Development and Training Manager; LOT Polish Airlines; and, Xavier Ripoll, Sales and Marketing Director, Able Freight, with a pharmaceutical company due to join later this week.

The Risk Management Committee is part of CCA’s newly-launched Technical Committee programme, which aims is to assist, analyse, study, and manage critical points affecting product quality along the cool chain, as well as developing standards, and initiating projects.

CCA members who are not Board members can volunteer to become Project Coordinators, responsible for the facilitation of initiatives and the proposal of final solutions to the Board.

CCA Board members sponsor the projects.

The CCA holds two events a year, one for pharmaceuticals and one for perishables. The pharmaceuticals event for this year has been confirmed and will take place in Athens.


Working together to improve the temperature-sensitive supply chain to reduce food loss and waste in the perishables sector as well as benefiting the pharma community.

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