Sofrigam outlines TCO strategies for reducing pharma temperature-controlled logistics costs

Rueil Malmaison, France: – Temperature-controlled logistics and pharmaceutical cold chain packaging specialist Sofrigam S.A. Has produced a guide showing how to control logistics costs while still ensuring safety and security of temperature sensitive pharmaceutical products during storage and shipping.

In an article just published on its website, Sofrigam points out that many pharma companies are becoming over-focused on the transport costs, which it says represent ‘only the tip of the iceberg’ in looking at the overall Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of cool-chain logistics solutions.

Never break the chain

Cost optimisation, risk management and compliance with regulations are some of the many challenges faced by pharmaceutical companies and their logistics partners in pharmaceutical cold chain shipping. Added to this, are the technical and operational constraints specific to each organisation.

However, the primary imperative is to avoid any lapses in the temperature-controlled cold chain that could harm product quality and patient safety.

“Never breaking the cold chain is the foremost constraint when transporting thermal sensitive drugs. This involves keeping the product at a constant temperature throughout the transport, including during storage periods and during transfer to different modes of transport. The choice of the insulated packaging solution is decisive,” says Sofrigam.

With so many choices available for cold chain transport, it is essential to analyse the techno-economic issues related to overall thermal packaging performance, whole logistics chain efficiencies and TCO, says Sofrigam. The TCO determines the direct and indirect costs of owning and using a cold chain packaging solution. It makes it possible to evaluate the overall financial impact of a purchase decision in order to move towards the best choice of temperature-controlled packaging solution.

More than 80% of logistics costs are hidden

“The expense of supporting the pharmaceutical supply chain represents 25% of the costs borne by the pharmaceutical companies. The expenses of supporting the logistics of the cold chain for drugs are the weightiest of these expenses. Optimising the process – making it safer and more efficient – could be a source of significant savings,” the article explains.

Sofrigam points out that while the purchase price is an important and easily identifiable criterion, analysis of the life cycle of insulated packaging reveals that other ancillary costs such as loading time, mode of transport, weight, etc., can have a significant impact on the overall cost of the packaging solution.

“In fact, the purchase price represents only part of the overall cost of implementing the insulated shipping solution: it is the tip of the iceberg. The costs of transport, storage, preparation, packaging, retrieval of packaging if is reusable, and the service provider’s after-sales service are among the costs to consider, not to mention the costs related to security risks (loss, theft, temperature deviations, etc.). That is the point of a TCO analysis of reusable insulated shipping packaging: finding the best compromise between price and quality,” the article concludes.

About Sofrigam

With over 40 years of experience, Sofrigam provide a comprehensive portfolio of innovative packaging and related solutions that allow pharmaceutical and other clients to optimize their temperature-controlled logistic chains.

From its French roots, Sofrigam has become a global company, operating in the USA, Canada, UK and across Europe, with manufacturing centers in North America and Europe.

Sofrigam manufactures a range of standard and made-to-measure thermal packaging products, including cartons, cases, bags and pouches that cover every step in the cool chain, from manufacturer to end-user.

It also offers customized services designed to achieve secure, cost effective and ecological cold chain logistics in shipping, storage and packaging.

Sofrigam Services accompany clients through every step of the logistics chain while prioritizing safety of goods and reducing costs. Advanced software and other solutions allow clients to audit their cold chains, monitor shipments, analyze logistics lanes, manage Inventory and optimize ordering.

Sofrigam can also deliver best Time to Market through thermal simulation equipment combined with its ‘cut & glue’ customization process that gives customers the ability to adapt any catalog product to its own needs with development time reduced to as little as 15 days.