A new industry-driven, not-for-profit pharma-logistics collaboration initiative called TEAM-UP aims to improve corporate efficiencies, better overall sector performance and enhance patient/user safety.
Its website states, “The current turbulence in both the global pharmaceutical sector and the global logistics industry makes taking action now to integrate the process an urgent imperative. For some this will be an uncomfortable experience. For others, it will open the doors to huge opportunities.”
At the Toronto IQPC event, Kennedy described some of the inspired approaches to logistics that are the business signatures of leading companies such as Amazon, Apple and Inditex.
"The common denominator in all these ground-breaking supply chain platforms is collaboration," he said. "By taking a lead and driving supply chain integration, pharma companies can position themselves to better assimilate technology, drive efficiency, facilitate transparency and, ultimately, deliver improved, safer, outcomes for patients."
Asserting that "the sector lacks a common platform to underpin collaborative working and enable supply chain integration,” Kennedy described how the TEAM-UP pharma-logistics collaboration program has been designed to fill this need. Based around the "3 TEAM-UP Pillars" of Community, Resources and Accreditation, TEAM-UP has been conceived as a not-for-profit body fostering win-win collaboration and integration between all stakeholders in the pharma-logistics supply chain.
Co-presenting with Kennedy at the IQPC event was Andy Akrouche, MD of the Institute of Collaborative Working in Canada. Akrouche acquainted the audience with the new ISO 44001 international standard for collaborative working, which is scheduled for global launch at the end of March. "The TEAM-UP program is aligned with the new ISO standard and provides pharma companies and their logistics partners with a structured route to its operational execution."
