Case: Pharmaceuticals distributor Oriola

Oriola is one of the largest pharmaceuticals distributors in Nordic Countries and Baltic States. In Finland Oriola has a marketshare of about 50%. Turnover of Oriola Corporation in 2014 was about € 1.6 billion and personnell amount was about 2 350. In Finland Oriola delivers annually over 60 million customer units.

Pharmaceuticals manufacturing, their storage and their transportation conditions are strictly regulated and the regulations have to be followed literally. Products that have been under wrong conditions will not get sales permission and financial losses might be significant. Also brand image and company image are important for business continuity and for business growth.

Temperature monitoring

Monitoring temperature in pharmaceuticals supply chain is getting more and more important especially as the amount of biological pharmaceuticals is growing fast. Almost all pharmaceuticals are sensitive for freezing and many are also sensitive for heat. In the Nordics the weather conditions are specially demanding due to cold winters but also for the warm and humit summers.

Cool conditions (2-8 C). Almost one fifth of all prescription pharmaceuticals need to have unbroken cool conditions through out the supply chain. As the amount of biological pharmaceuticals is growong fast more and more goods have to be kept in cool conditions.

Room temperature conditions (15-25 C). This is another temperature area that has clerlt been defined in regulations. Oriola has a huge marketshare in animal pharmaceuticals and many of those products have to be kept in this temperature range.

Oriola is responsible for delivering pharmaceuticals for over 600 pharmacies and about 200 hospitals in Finland. The company has warehouses and logistical hubs all over the vast country as the promise is to deliver all orders within 24 hours. Temperature monitoring at all times is extremely important both in warehouses and during transportation.

We chose 4TS based on strict quality criteria

Instead of having to manually process the measurement data we now get it automatically and in real-time.

Distribution Manager Juhani Jäppinen from Oriola says that 4TS solution was carefully examined and tested before taken into use. “We tested 4TS dSeal devices and 4TS dMonitor solution for several weeks according to our exact quality criteria”, says mr. Jäppinen being clearly satisfied with the results.

Oriola criteria for approving a monitoring solution:
Accuracy of temperature values and measurements have to meet quality standards
Temperature logging and monitoring has to be possible in real-time
Reliability of measurements and traceabilityof data for several years back
Real-time alerts for condition deviations and informativeness of alert event data
Web based user interface and ease of use of the monitoring solution
Exact fulfillment of criteria in all regulations

“The quality of our storage and delivery operations have now improved a lot. Compared to our previous operating model it is now easier to monitor and faster to analyse the measurement data. Besides quality and safety improvements we also save a lot of work by using the 4TS solution” – Juhani Leppänen

Quality criteria and regulative instructions

“Safety is extremely important when dealing with pharmaceuticals.You have to be able to ensure the quality is unchanged and the integrity has not been violated. With real-time monitoring and alerts on deviations we are able to prevent spoilage and integrity violations” – Oriola’s Quality Manager Jari Mäkelä.

“Due to regulations and customer requirements quality monitoring and safety measures get more important all the time”, points out Manager Janne Forsman who is responsible for production development in Oriola. “In Oriola we want to be a trustworthy channel and a professional partner for all operator in health care area. Using 4TS solution provides us a big step forward in our continuous development work”, says Mr. Forsman.