PHARMACEUTICAL FOCUS
Last mile pharmaceutical shipment monitoring made easy
Logmore data loggers, which are built around QR code tags
In the next few years, it is predicted the global demand for vaccines will be around 15bn doses. In terms of Africa’s COVID-19 vaccination programme, according to the WHO there are growing concerns that supply shortages in many African countries are holding back the continuing rollout. We speak to the CEO of Logmore, Niko Polvinen about how the company’s innovative data loggers are ideal for ensuring last mile delivery of COVID-19 vaccines. By Abby Vorster
HOW CAN LOGMORE HELP HEALTHCARE AGENCIES AND GOVERNMENTS OVERCOME THE CHALLENGES OF DISTRIBUTING COVID-19 VACCINES TO PEOPLE IN AFRICA? Polvinen: Accessibility has played a big role in our product development. We reach a good coverage of shipments by ensuring that the devices used for temperature monitoring are affordable, don’t require new infrastructure, and are overall easy and fast to deploy into daily operations. The only things a logistics provider would need to use the service are the loggers, which are known as Logmore Guardians, and a smartphone with an internet connection.
WHAT SUCCESSES HAS LOGMORE HAD IN TERMS OF PLAYING A VITAL ROLE IN GLOBAL VACCINE DELIVERY? Polvinen: So far Logmore has been used to secure
Any smart device can be used to scan the QR code to upload collected data to the Logmore web-based cloud service
how uniquely suited our service is to shipments
Niko Polvinen, Logmore CEO
destined for rural areas as well as inter-city use.
over 10mn doses of COVID-19 vaccines. We are working with multiple global carriers of the loggers to most continents already. While Asia
HOW DOES LOGMORE ENSURE LOGISTICS QUALITY IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL SUPPLY CHAIN?
was one of the first regions we went to with our
Polvinen: As you know, pharmaceuticals
on all continents to
partners, our more recent arrival in Africa has
tend to be very temperature sensitive.
help them succeed.
been interesting. It has been eye-opening to see
With Logmore, companies can make sure
vaccine, which have brought our Logmore data
Did you know? DHL has chosen to secure more than 7mn doses of COVID-19 vaccines with Logmore. The agreement between DHL and Logmore commenced in March 2021 and involves the monitoring of vaccine temperatures in Europe. As a shipment data platform, Logmore integrates seamlessly with the DHL SmartSensor service. The service package cares for shipment conditions every step of the way and provides fleet management teams access to analytics. At the same time, end users and employees are able to verify the correct handling of the shipment at package-level, throughout its journey.
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QUARTER 2 2021 // P&C AFRICA
We want to be close to our customers
Currently, we’re
their products have been transported safely
working on establishing regional offices in
regardless of which service provider handles the
Frankfurt, Germany and the USA. A lot of the
transportation process.
world’s pharmaceuticals are distributed from
Logmore is a combination of accurate temperature monitoring data loggers and a highly secure cloud service. Data from the data
those two locations, so it makes sense to be where the shipments start. Later this year, we’re looking into branching
loggers is uploaded to the cloud by scanning a
out in Asia and Africa. For the latter, Cape Town
QR code. Should there be any occurrences that
and Johannesburg are among our top options
require further investigation, the recipient and the
for local operations due to the location of
shipper are both alerted immediately when the
major customers.
shipment reaches the destination.
As a whole, the African continent is of great interest to Logmore. I believe the company could
CONSIDERING LOGMORE’S RAPID GROWTH, WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR THE COMPANY?
make a very real and tangible difference by working with the local pharmaceutical supply chains. •
Polvinen: The company is certainly growing fast. We’ve almost tripled our headcount in the past year and will almost triple it again in the next 12 months.
Logmore – www.logmore.com
