Logistics Live: Conversations & Insights on the Global Supply Chain

Today we continue our conversation with Arno Veldkamp and Graham Hunter on Energy Supply Chain logistics. Arno is Head of Client Relationship Management Automotive & Energy at Quick Logistics; Graham is Global Key Account Manager – Project Logistics at Kuehne+Nagel.  In Part 1, they described the incredible lengths to which energy companies go to resource and access global energy sources that power every aspect of our lives, and the supply chain logistics required to make that happen. In Part 2, they outline best practices and describe how they navigate various emerging challenges and overcome inevitable roadblocks. We began with Graham focusing on a case study involving shipping, sensitive electronics, and the high seas. For more information on the energy sector and global supply chain logistics solutions, visit our website at quicklogistics.com.

Energy, of course, powers the world. And harnessing that energy is an extraordinarily challenging task, involving massive equipment and sensitive parts that must travel to and from the furthest reaches of the globe. From oil rigs in the North Sea to wind farms off the U.S. coast, securing historical and renewable forms of energy requires precise, reliable, and innovative global supply chain logistics. So what, exactly is required? How does it work? Arno Veldkamp and Graham Hunter are the people to ask. Arno is Head of Client Relationship Management Automotive & Energy at Quick Logistics; Graham is Global Key Account Manager – Project Logistics at Kuehne+Nagel. In our two-part conversation, they explained the context, growth, challenges, and next generation opportunities around the supply chain logistics required to access energy around the globe. For more information on global supply chain logistics solutions, go to quicklogistics.com.

In this episode, Driving change: Adapting to the evolving automotive supply chain – we tackle the historical global nature of the automotive supply chain and potential country-specific, regional and global impacts. What might this mean for future investment in U.S. infrastructure – especially around semiconductors and the ever-growing role of Electric Vehicles? And how do all these factors affect everything from manufacturing to the supply chain itself? To learn more, we spoke with Arturo Corona, Quick’s Regional Sales Manager, North America. For more information, visit quicklogistics.com.

Today we continue our conversation with Mike Sweeney, Global Head of Strategy for Cell & Gene Therapies and Direct to Patient products at QuickSTAT Global Life Science Logistics, on how to set up a robust CGT supply chain.  In Part 1, Mike described the explosion of cell and gene therapies registered for clinical trials – plus the hope and supply chain logistics challenges that growth provides.  In Part 2, Mike discusses the benefits of advanced planning, the role of technology, as well as cold chain and chain of custody. We began, however, with his analysis of the ongoing regulatory change globally. I asked Mike: How does QuickSTAT stay on top of it, and what type of guidance do they give?

Cell & Gene Therapies hold incredible potential for improving – if not saving – human lives. These CGT’s have been called “living drugs” and can heal diseased organs and – we hope – fight diseases that currently have no cure.  Because of these incredible possibilities, related research and development is growing exponentially around the globe, with increasing numbers of complex clinical trials – complex because they require complicated and precisely-timed pickup and delivery of specimens and deliveries. A single hiccup anywhere in terms of pickup, drop-off, temperature, contamination – anything – can cause significant challenges. So what, exactly, does it take to set up a robust Cell & Gene Therapy supply chain? What should manufacturers, labs, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and logistics providers consider?  Mike Sweeney can explain. Mike is Global Head of Strategy for CGT and Direct to Patient products (CGT and DTP) at QuickSTAT Global Life Science Logistics. He joins me now to discuss why – for CGT Supply Chains – planning in advance is the best medicine. For more information on clinical trial logistics, visit our website at quickstat.com.

In Part 2 of our conversation, Scott Ohanesian, QuickSTAT’s senior VP of Commercial Operations, and Mike Sweeney, QuickSTAT's Global Head of Strategy for CGT and Direct to Patient Products discuss the various challenges around the logistics of Cell & Gene Therapy – what to look out for and the importance of being prepared. We also look forward and consider not only the sector’s growth, but what that growth will mean for supply chain logistics. To understand that future, however, we began by asking Mike Sweeney to provide the context of when gene therapy began – and, importantly, how we got from there to here? For more information on clinical trial logistics, visit our website at quickstat.com.

Medical care and scientific research offer some of the most challenging – and developing – areas for global supply chain logistics. And few are more significant– in terms of potential for improving human life and logistics precision required – than Cell & Gene Therapy or CGT. These CGT “medical miracles” bring logistics opportunities and challenges, around timing, temperature, chain of identity, synchronization, integration, scale, back up planning, and more. So, what is required – logistically – to help ensure CGT clinical trials and personalized therapies get handled safely, securely, and on time? QuickSTAT's Global Head of Strategy for CGT and DTP, Mike Sweeney and Senior VP of Commercial Operations Scott Ohanesian explain.  For more information on clinical trial logistics, visit our website at quickstat.com.

In Part 2, Mike Sweeney, QuickSTAT’s Global Head of Strategy for CGT and Direct to Patient products, offers specific supply chain design ideas and tactics to establish processes and overcome potential logistics roadblocks. He breaks down extraordinary case studies, and gives his views on what’s next – particularly around regulation.

Critically ill patients increasingly can participate in life saving and life changing cell & gene therapy clinical trials without having to leave their homes with the Direct- to -Patient and Direct- from -Patient model. So how do you set up these supply chains? How do you mitigate risk? And how do you ensure they’re resilient? Mike Sweeney, QuickSTAT’s Global Head of Strategy for CGT and Direct to Patient products, explains.