The healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors of the logistics industry are witnessing a significant transformation, as companies leverage their networks and invest in in-house capabilities, acquisitions and technology to deliver end-to-end solutions.

“Pharma is not new for Geodis at all,” David Frouin, Vice President Vertical Market Healthcare at Geodis, stated. “We have been working with some of the top ten pharma companies in the world for over 25 years.” 

Despite this longstanding involvement, Geodis had not previously prioritised or widely promoted its healthcare logistics vertical. This changed in recent years as the company made strategic decisions to broaden its network and invest heavily in this sector. Geodis’s strategy revolves around enhancing its operational control and shifting from third-party solutions to in-house capabilities. 

“We decided to invest massively in pharma, leveraging and scaling up,” Frouin explained, pointing to their efforts to secure CEIV (Center of Excellence for Independent Validators) certification, opening new hubs in strategic locations worldwide, and implementing robust monitoring systems.

A crucial part of Geodis’s enhanced capabilities comes from its recent acquisitions, notably Gandon Transports and TOF. These acquisitions have significantly strengthened Geodis’s ability to offer end-to-end solutions in healthcare logistics. 

“For last mile distribution, we acquired Gandon in France, a medium-sized company specialising in temperature-controlled transportation,” Frouin noted. 

This acquisition complements Geodis’s existing infrastructure, including six pharma-dedicated warehouses in France. Combining contract logistics with last-mile distribution allows Geodis to offer a comprehensive service package to pharma companies. 

“We now have a bundle offer that we can provide to the market, covering logistics and distribution in one seamless service,” Frouin added.

Client benefits

The enhanced capabilities mean significant benefits for Geodis’s clients. “The benefit is to have one single supplier to monitor the entire supply chain, ensuring visibility all along the way,” Frouin said. Geodis’s visibility platform, IRIS, is a critical component of this, offering real-time temperature monitoring and data collection. 

“We will soon be able to deliver temperature control visibility straight within IRIS, a major step forward for us,” Frouin announced proudly.

This innovation is part of Geodis’s broader strategy to integrate various IoT devices chosen by their pharma clients into a unified data platform. 

“Our strategy has been to develop a data lake that can collect all data from various loggers, making our visibility platform very efficient and user-friendly,” Frouin explained.

Safety of shipments

Ensuring the safety of healthcare shipments is paramount for Geodis. The company has a robust global quality management system in place, partners with the right airlines, and utilises appropriate packaging. 

“We have leveraged our internal training programmes and now have our own team of certified trainers,” Frouin shared. 

This ensures that all personnel involved in the pharma and healthcare vertical are regularly trained and assessed, maintaining compliance with GDP (Good Distribution Practice) standards.

Additionally, Geodis has developed control towers, or centres of services, to monitor operations and quickly address any issues. 

“These centres allow us to track, follow, and ensure the integrity of the products throughout the supply chain,” Frouin said.

Geodis’s ability to adapt to unforeseen challenges is illustrated by a recent incident involving a shipment stuck in Sri Lanka due to geopolitical issues. “We had to find a solution quickly to ship the cargo to France and then to Saudi Arabia on short notice due to the short shelf life of the product,” Frouin recounted. Thanks to Geodis’s agent network and centre of services, they successfully managed the situation, ensuring timely delivery.

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