Supply Chain Management and Digital Innovation in the Wake of COVID-19

2020 has been one of the most challenging years for the human race. As WHO (World Health Organization) declared COVID-19 as a pandemic, the world has been undergoing a major disruption. The monetary and social turmoil induced by the pandemic is devastating. Ultimately, it largely affected every aspect of human lives. COVID-19 has taken an immediate toll on the global healthcare systems and government bodies by pushing them to perform beyond their abilities and actively respond on multiple fonts at the same time. The drastic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a global emergency, where supply chain companies have been abruptly pushed into the spotlight. But now that our healthcare systems start to regain control over the pandemic with the help of vaccines against the coronavirus, it is going to be a test of resilience for all the supply chain companies.

The global COVID-19 outbreak led to an acute shortage of essential supplies like drugs, pharmaceuticals, biochemicals, PPE Kits, and other essential healthcare supplies. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, AWL has worked to amplify the government's vaccination efforts by creating an extensive cold chain network with advanced cold rooms, freezers, refrigerators, cold boxes, and carriers that keep vaccines and other pharmaceuticals at just the right temperature during each step on the long journey from the starting point to the last mile delivery. At AWL, we work to deal with the rigorous challenges regarding temperature maintained through our best-in-class software solutions for supply chains that are powered by cutting-edge technology and power tools and devices that help broaden the cold chain to every community that needs it. This way AWL ensures to safely distribute vaccines throughout the supply chain network at the required scale without any interruption or delay.

The pandemic has largely disputed the global supply chain like never before. Due to this, many supply chains have gone through multiple challenges and cracks at suppliers, at manufacturing stations, and in the last mile delivery. So, as the world tackles the ongoing crisis, supply chains are finding themselves in the bottom zone while experiencing extraordinary challenges of their own.

But at AWL, we think it might be difficult but not impossible for supply chain firms for covid related drugs and aids to have monotony across all the cold chain operations and yet maintain efficient and streamlined supply chains. Though the digital transformation of cold chains has been underway for a few years, COVID-19 kicked the process into top gear. The pandemic has enabled supply chains and logistics companies to stimulate the adoption of digitalization and technology.

So, as AWL, one of the leading tech-enabled and integrated supply chain companies in healthcare proceeds forward to make its contribution as the primary force to kick-start the distribution of much-needed medical supplies in the country, we are also assessing and navigating the best ways to optimize this transition to inter-connectivity for greater value.

How AWL India Is Making The Best Out of Digital Innovation in the Wake of COVID-19?

As the logistics and supply chain firms for covid vaccines prepare to boost the largest vaccination drive undergoing in India, it’s important to consider the role of technology in making delivery and distribution of the drugs uninterrupted as well as a smooth success. Orchestrating a nationwide distribution of one of the most in-demand medicines, drugs, biochemicals, and pharmaceuticals in history is not a stunt that can be performed manually overnight. Instead, it will require advanced technological solutions in order to pull off the distribution seamlessly.

Apart from the extensiveness and national as well as international reach that the drug distribution will need to have, it will also require substantial amounts of planning, sensitivity, visibility, and efficiency.

The cycle of tracking, storing, and distributing millions of the drugs & COVID-19 medical supplies is an enormous feat, needing a collection of advanced tools to coordinate and maintain a stable vaccine supply chain. To make sure that temperature-controlled cargo doesn’t get spoiled or damaged during the process of transportation, AWL makes use of accurate, reliable, and complete tracking information. Our end-to-end dosage-level tracking tremendously increases the efficiency and planning accuracy in the distribution of life-saving drugs like remdesivr, tocilizumab an other pharmaceuticals distribution, even to remote areas and rural geographies where delivery routes and climatic conditions are rough, our cold chain solutions are technologically equipped with the help of remote tracking and monitoring.

As healthcare providers grapple with the rapid and phenomenal mass development, distribution, and management of COVID-19 vaccines, AWL is using top-notch technologies such as temperature monitors and barcodes, which can provide momentary information of the drugs at each station and help reduce errors and make vaccines traceable.

●  AWL utilizes the Internet of Things in its software solutions for the supply chain to make the process of reporting substantiated pickup, delivery, and distribution steps simplified. Using this advanced technology also helps in detecting any unauthorized interventions or threats throughout the supply chain and the supporting dashboard monitoring capabilities with key performance indicators makes the entire process-oriented and efficient.

●  At AWL, we utilize advanced technologies to maximize the number of duties appointed to drivers per delivery, to ensure that every resource is used effectively and invariably. AWL's software solutions for the supply chain offers real-time visibility and automation of distinct units of the delivery process to ensure more seamless workflows, and help to avert roadblocks within the transportation process that might slow down distribution endeavors

●  AWL's software solutions for the supply chain offer a chain of custody with the help of an integrated dashboard, called CHAKSU, that involves monitoring where a product is at all times, and when it will arrive at the next destination of the delivery cycle. Constant monitoring is crucial for the cold chain cargo and is even more essential for vaccine distribution, as it must be managed carefully with full safety.

●   AWL, one of the leading supply chain companies in healthcare incorporates Artificial intelligence in its next-gen software solutions for the supply chain, and therefore, enhances delivery optimization and increases delivery load and capacity. Our AI-powered predictive models make use of historical and current delivery data to anticipate how long specific deliveries, and every single phase of delivery, will take. With the help of this predictive ability, organizations can cut back buffer times that are generally planned to enable immediate variables, confirming deliveries at maximum capability. This further ensures that more precise and accurate ETAs are provided to hospitals, pharmacies, and stores for the expected time of delivery. Our software solutions for supply chain delivery also diminish the risk involving a medical supply staying in the trail for longer than it should.

●   Our smart software solutions for the supply chain can also help manage and keep track of logistics, beyond fetching the cold chain cargo to its end destination. Our end-to-end tracking technology and cold-chain visibility networks provide the proficiency to closely monitor cargoes to ensure that temperatures are maintained and shipments arrive as expected, delivering real-time data so distributors can intrude if required. We install data loggers inside of a package to show it to the receiver of the shipment that the temperature was maintained throughout the journey.

Wrapping Up

There's no doubt to the fact that the COVID-19 related drugs and medical supplies will be the most in-demand item in the world, and its effective and streamlined distribution is critical to the health and wellbeing of everyone. Even though technology certainly plays a significant role in the bigger picture of effective storage & distribution of such medical items, it’s no less important than any other undertaking to be enlightened to this logistical challenge.