Speaking at a recent cold-chain logistics summit, Alan Kennedy from TEAM-UP stressed the need for the pharma sector to embrace some of the supply chain concepts that have proved so profoundly transformational in other industries.

Introducing the new TEAM-UP pharma-logistics collaboration initiative, Kennedy pressed his proposition by describing some of the inspired approaches to logistics that are the business signatures of leading companies such as Amazon, Apple and Inditex.

TEAM-UP is an independent, not-for-profit, pharma-logistics initiative expressly designed to inspire the mutual understanding, common procedures and universal climate of trust that are a prerequisite for the creation of sustainable, fully-integrated supply chains.

“The common denominator in all these ground-breaking supply chain platforms is collaboration,” he attested. “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 went on to describe 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.

Andy Akrouche of the Institute of Collaborative Working in Canada 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.”