track and trace Archives

HighJump’s Elevate Conference: A Corporate Coalescence

Inventory Management | By Clint Reiser • 04/22/2015

Today HighJump is wrapping up its 2015 user conference – the first since HighJump and Accellos merged into a single entity. The conference has around 650 attendees. And the new HighJump is now a substantially larger organization, as measured by revenues, employees, and products. Combined revenues for 2014 eclipsed $150 million and the total staff is around 750 employees. The executives placed substantial emphasis on the technology strategy and development roadmap during the general sessions. I was encouraged to hear that the company has a comprehensive and cohesive vision for its product portfolio. I say this because I am a firm believer that long-term value creation comes from robust corporate vision, product strategy, and execution. With that said, I will provide a brief overview of the company’s overarching technology strategy that was articulated at the conference.

HighJump One Platform
The company is anchoring its strategy on the tenets of adaptability and usability –both legacy strengths of the organization. HighJump has branded its technology vision, already five months in the making, as the HighJump One Platform. The platform is a next generation set of user facing technologies and interfaces leveraging HTML 5. This architecture provides benefits in the form of usability improvements, a common IT toolkit, and a consistent look and feel across all HighJump products. The ability for HighJump’s applications to provide an enhanced interface and fit across a wider range of devices, such as smart phones and tablets, in addition to traditional form factors, is a primary example of usability improvements to be delivered by the platform. A specific example of more modern applicability is design for touch screen devices. During the sessions, management presented live demos of processes in action on the platform. Also, the use Pulse, the Accellos BI tool, was highlighted numerous times, implying that it will be the go-to-market BI tool for HighJump. The company also created a separate set of branding, HighJump In Motion, to distinguish products it will be developing specifically for mobile devices. Examples include applications that take advantage of cameras and store- and-forward capabilities available in mobile devices.

WMS Applications
Organizationally, HighJump has merged its Supply Chain Advantage and Accellos One WMS teams. They plan to offer continued investment and enhancements in the three WMS products. As an example of recent enhancements, the newest release of the Warehouse Advantage track and trace has expanded these capabilities. It now offers item and product genealogy as well as recall lifecycle capabilities.

A presentation by Ashley Furniture, a flagship HighJump customer, highlighted the adaptability of Warehouse Advantage by discussing the use of the application set for Yard Management. More specifically, Ashley Furniture used Warehouse Advantage as a system of record and leveraged Labor Advantage by adapting its X Y coordinate system to add proximity capabilities to its RFID-based yard management system.

Finally, on the omni-channel front, HighJump offered sessions on Retail Advantage, the company’s in-store fulfillment application. Also, enVista had a booth in the partner pavilion, showing its Distributed Order Management offering. I was unaware of enVista’s DOM solution prior to this conference. DOM is certainly a valuable addition to HighJump’s ecosystem, given its critical role in providing global inventory visibility and cross-channel order fulfillment in today’s omni-channel retail environment.

Bolster Your Supply Chain’s Memory in Time for DQSA

Guest Commentary | By Michael O’Brien and Jack Tarkoff • 11/18/2014

In the movie Memento, the main character, Leonard Shelby, relies on tattoos and Polaroid pictures to retrace his past after amnesia wipes out his memory. He needs these details to faithfully reconstruct recent events and resolve the crime that upended his life.

While you don’t need tattoos to track pharmaceutical shipments, the passage of House bill H.R. 3204, the Drug Quality and Security Act (DQSA), means track-and-trace requirements for pharmaceuticals have become more precise than ever: Each detail of a drug’s journey matters, and distributors must be able to produce the report at a moment’s notice. Oversight has passed from the state level to the federal, which means pharmaceutical distributors must abide by a set of processes that apply to all shipments within the U.S.

Memento’s tactics for recalling details may be a little extreme, but you do need a fail-safe process in place to comply with federal regulations, should the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) come calling. There’s a lot of work to be done, and not much time to do it. The first deadline is just a few weeks away – January 1, 2015. It’s time to outline your foolproof track and trace strategy once and for all – and it’s going to take a whole lot more than a few Polaroid pictures.

Why the heat is turning up on DQSA
Both the state and federal laws are designed primarily to combat illegal drug counterfeiting, which poses a health risk around the globe. Counterfeiting thrives in weak regulatory enforcement systems. For example, some figures show that 40 percent of the drugs circulated in Latin America are counterfeit. In West Africa, the figure jumps to 70 percent, according to the World Health Organization (WHO)

Sometimes the drugs in question don’t contain any active ingredients; they are essentially worthless, except to unscrupulous manufacturers and distributors. Other counterfeit drugs contain an amount insufficient for the illnesses they are designed to combat. According to the WHO, they may do more harm than good by encouraging drug-resistant bacteria mutations. Some counterfeit drugs even contain ingredients that cause illness or death.

DQSA is designed to combat these illegal drugs by requiring that the medication’s entire history be traceable through the whole supply chain. Not just to the lot level, as is the case today, but down to the unit level.

More stringent requirements
In practical terms, that means every single bottle or package will eventually have an individual serial number, created and logged by the manufacturer. Every time a container changes hands, it will need to be noted and verified so it can be traced later. Each transaction will require a report comprising the transaction information, transaction history and transaction statement, which must be maintained for six years.

If a question arises about the legitimacy of a drug shipment during those six years, pharmaceutical distributors will need to be able to produce this complete history and reverse-engineer the distribution process to get it back. If they can’t, they’ll face severe consequences – from steep financial penalties to having their licenses revoked. The FDA is not shy about warning pharmaceutical distributors that cannot produce the basic information required currently. The risks will become much higher when more detailed records are mandated.

Pharmaceutical distributors will be under increased pressure to report suspicious orders, such as those with unusual payment or delivery methods, abnormal order sizes or extraordinary quantities. This is already required by DEA Form 22 under the Controlled Substances Act, but DSQA ups the ante. Distributors will have one business day or up to 48 hours to respond to a recall or an investigation related to suspect products.

Preparing for DSQA
Perhaps the most important thing a pharmaceutical distributor can do as the deadline approaches is examine its product management systems and processes to determine if they are capable of meeting more detailed track and trace requirements.

Those still using paper systems (or electronic applications such as spreadsheets) should consider moving to an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. A manual system may work if you ship small volumes; anything more than that requires an electronic system. By 2017 an electronic system will be required by law.

If you already have an ERP in place, determine whether it is a general ERP or one created specifically for the pharmaceutical industry. General ERP systems are designed for industries that don’t have to deal with the level of counterfeiting present in pharmaceuticals, nor the associated health risks. Therefore general ERPs don’t have sophisticated track-and-trace capabilities built into them.

The good news is ERPs designed specifically for the pharmaceutical industry allow distributors to meet the track-and-trace requirements automatically. Rather than creating new processes that will disrupt the organization, a pharmaceutical-specific ERP captures and stores the information as part of normal business and enables the level of reporting DQSA requires.

Because not all DQSA requirements have been defined yet, you’ll want an ERP flexible enough to adjust as-needed. That capability will also come in handy should the requirements change along the way.

Jump into the fire
Counterfeit drugs are not just a health risk. They also put an organization’s brand, reputation and even existence in jeopardy. Complying with more stringent track-and-trace laws can create issues on the front end, but they’re ultimately better for everyone.

With the right ERP system – one that is designed for the pharmaceutical industry’s specific requirements – you’ll have the protection you need to meet federal regulations. No tattoos required.

Michael O’Brien is the Vice President of Sales for IBS, a world leader in distribution resource management software, providing ERP and WMS business applications for the wholesale, distribution and manufacturer/distributor markets. For more information about IBS, or to contact Mr. O’Brien, email michael.obrien@ibs.net.

Jack Tarkoff is the Vice President of Sales for rfXcel, a pioneer in creating real-time compliance and traceability systems. For more information about rfXcel, or to contact Mr. Tarkoff, email jtarkoff@rfxcel.com.

Guest Commentary: Achieving Agility in the Food Supply Chain

Food & Beverage Industry | By Eric Lamphier • 01/24/2013

Supplying the nation with food is the most critical of functions, but one that comes with layer upon layer of complexity. In many ways, the supply chain of supermarkets and independent merchants is similar to those of any other retailer. Suppliers are spread around the country and the globe, and driven by customer demand for local, independent products, retailers must work with small, local farmers as well as with large multi-national suppliers.

However, two key factors exist that make the food supply chain more complex. The first is that every product, albeit to varying degrees, is a time bomb. From the second it’s picked, caught or made, it has a finite lifespan. Seasonal trends can have a similar impact on fashion or fast moving consumer goods supply chains, but at least last season’s coats can go on the sale rack. Out of date milk cannot be dealt with in the same way, so it must be made available to the customer as quickly as possible. The result is a far more expansive supply chain network that becomes difficult to manage efficiently.

The second factor is regulatory compliance. With the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) demanding compliance down to the finest detail, farmers, manufacturers and retailers must have very strict tracking processes in place.

Stopping the rot – getting produce to the customer on time
The clock starts ticking the second a pea is picked, a potato pulled or a fish netted. The customer demands the freshest food, which means getting produce from farmer to retailer to customer within ever decreasing time frames.

Greater speed of delivery does not come from simply trying to do things faster, it also comes from creating a more agile supply chain. Farmers need to be able to get goods into the supply chain right away, which requires easy-to-use labeling, scanning and shipping devices to ensure that products are accurately logged and enter the supply chain quickly and efficiently.

It’s then the responsibility of the retailer to create the best transport route to the store shelf. This can only be achieved by gaining an understanding of stores’ and customers’ requirements and the ability to make quick decisions on what produce goes where.

Matching store or customer need with stock availability is a fundamental skill of good retailing, but having to make those decisions in time frames of minutes, or hours at most, is one of the defining characteristics that make the food supply chain different from others.

Retailers have responded to these demands and put in place multiple distribution centers close to the source. This ensures that produce is fresh when it hits the shelves, but also creates a new challenge: managing it. To achieve this, it’s essential for operations managers to have clear visibility of all products, all the time.

Fresh food, rubber stamped
One of the reasons that the ability to monitor across all of these sites from a single interface is important is regulatory compliance. Goods must be tracked from farm to customer to ensure quality of produce on the shelves. This puts responsibility on farmers and manufacturers to time stamp and label all goods appropriately, but also means that the more visibility retailers have of the transit of these goods, the better. This means knowing exactly where products are, when and for how long – including when they’re in the back of a refrigerated vehicle, in a warehouse or on a shelf.

The reason that this is growing in importance from a commercial standpoint is that retailers are committing to print the source of their produce on every packet.

Online shopping highlights supply chain weaknesses
In the rapidly changing retail environment, supply chain inefficiencies will be exacerbated by the continued growth of online shopping and home delivery. The importance of removing those inefficiencies is demonstrated by a number of recent research, including a Bain study indicating that online grocery shoppers end up buying more frequently and spending more money in each transaction as they come to rely on the service over time.

Many food home delivery services are going through a major transition as critical mass approaches – consolidating picking into dedicated distribution centers away from low volume store-based operations. However, while the enthusiasm to address these new challenges is important, recent high profile failures highlight the risks of investing in too much costly, fixed, inflexible automation. To achieve the goals of a multi-channel enterprise, agility is a higher priority than optimization to solve today’s problems in such a fast moving sector.

Some of the characteristics of agility in the supply chain include being able to cross stock over between different distribution lines, as well as adjusting supply chain processes in real-time to adapt to changing circumstances and requirements.

Achieving Agility
There are several key considerations for the food supply chain that will ensure that this multi-channel challenge is met and overcome with a profitable outcome. The first is to have a single Order Management system. If this can’t be easily achieved, an integration technology that can at least aggregate information from multiple systems to give a single view of each channel is essential. Without this, the supply chain will slow down and the capability to ship the most appropriate stock does not exist.

Unifying processes to gain visibility of the entire supply chain is essential. As many deliveries – for example for bread and milk – have to go direct to store from the manufacturer, coordinating the entire delivery cycle requires the integration of an extensive web of manufacturers, delivery vehicles and stores’ own stock management systems.

Eric Lamphier joined Manhattan Associates in 1997 and is currently the senior director of product management for Manhattan’s Warehouse Management for Open Systems (WMOS) solution. Lamphier has worked in various roles in Manhattan’s Professional Services Organization, supporting and overseeing the design and implementation of Warehouse Management solutions for customers across target verticals. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering and an MBA from Clarkson University.

Food Safety Modernization Act Increases Need for Electronic Track and Trace

Food & Beverage Industry | By Steve Banker • 02/28/2011

In January, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was passed and signed into law. The bill increases the Food and Drug Administration’s authority over food recalls. It allows the FDA to require food producers to have safety plans and enhances the FDA’s ability to improve the safety of imported foods. The bill, however, does not include any funding provisions to implement the law, estimated at $1.4 billion over five years.

You can read more about the major provisions of this bill in this article (available to ARC clients only). But below are some of the major provisions that will impact logisticians in the food and beverage value chain.

The FDA Commissioner now has the authority to order a mandatory recall when the agency determines that there is a reasonable probability that a food poses a health hazard. Previously, the agency could only recommend voluntary recalls of food products resulting from possible outbreaks. The FDA would have to negotiate with the manufacturers of the recall and this delayed the recall process. The law allows the FDA to suspend the registration of a food facility associated with unsafe food, thereby preventing it from distributing food.
The Act expands on registration requirements first implemented by Congress in the 2002 Bioterrorism Act. The Bioterrorism Act required facilities that manufacture, process or pack food to register with the FDA, but exempted retail food establishments and farms. The new legislation only exempts family and smaller growers. Initially, however, these smaller companies are only exempt for one and two years after the law is implemented.
Imported foods will be inspected and subjected to the same standards in place for US foods. The FDA now has the authority to block foods from facilities or countries that refuse FDA inspections. The FDA will also increase its inspection of foreign facilities that produce foods imported into the US.
The FDA is required to establish, as appropriate, “a product tracing system to receive information that improves the capacity to effectively and rapidly track and trace food that is in the United States or offered for import into the United States.”

A provision of the FSMA also requires companies to enhance their track and trace capabilities – rapidly tracing back from where a product was received and tracking forwards to where it was sent. This will create massive amounts of information that companies will have to manage and integrate to provide complete traceability across the supply chain.

The Bioterrorism Act included a “one step forward, one step back” traceability records requirement. The main difference is that the new law requires the FDA to run pilot tests that cover the entire supply chain, including farms and restaurants, and make a recommendation to Congress shortly thereafter. Our analysts in this area – Janice Abel, John Blanchard, and Tom Fiske – believe that the FDA will most likely recommend to Congress the utilization of electronic track and trace systems that can track the food genealogy throughout the supply chain.

Of course, track and trace for the purpose of recalls is a bit like opening the barn door after the horse has left. When track and trace encompasses the complete supply chain, these technologies can be extended to allow consumers to use cell phones to capture information about the food product. Consumers can learn where the produce was grown, who grew it, expiration dates, and if the food was recalled. Shoppers can scan the sticker with their smartphones or go to the website and enter the number from the sticker to track the path the food has taken and other information the farmer chooses to share, such as the harvest date. All of this information could be available almost immediately.

More control over fresh fruits and vegetables will have a positive impact on food safety. It also offers a major opportunity for Supply Chain Execution and AutoID vendors to provide new solutions that will fulfill the emerging dictates of this new legislation.

A complete analysis of logistics trends, technologies, and services

Archives

Login