Collaboration creates “carpooling” for pharma freight

Logistics service provider H.Essers will provide the operational expertise and intermodal capacity for the horizontal collaboration.

The partnership is powered by an advanced control tower that uses Microsoft cloud computing technology.

Baxter’s European distribution centre is in Lessines, approximately 40 km from Brussels. UCB’s European distribution centre is in Braine-L’Alleud, around 35 km south of Brussels.

Having previously detected significant bundling and synergy potential between the European transport networks for temperature-sensitive products of both UCB and Baxter, TRI-VIZOR invited both healthcare MNCs to forge a unique horizontal partnership for collaborative logistics.

Consequently, UCB and BAXTER signed an agreement with TRI-VIZOR to bundle and orchestrate their temperature-controlled pharmaceutical flows to Eastern Europe.

TRI-VIZOR will capture and synchronise the transport orders of both pharmaceutical companies in real-time, enabling full truck movements and intermodal (rail) transport, resulting in a more sustainable and smooth supply chain with significant benefits for the environment.

H.Essers was selected as the transport partner to operationalise the bundled flows, using rail connections where possible. Following a successful pilot test in Romania last month, UCB and Baxter will now implement other Eastern European destinations and plan to expand the collaboration with other pharmaceutical companies and trade lanes.

TRI-VIZOR’s Cross Supply Chain Cockpit® is a collaborative transport control tower developed with Microsoft Azure® cloud computing technology. This software cockpit will be used to orchestrate the physical, information and financial flows of the community.