RFID Solution: Asia's First RFID Cold Chain Solution For The Life Sciences Industry Pioneered In Singapore

TNT establishes half a million dollar initiative in Singapore to ensure complete integrity of medical shipments

Manufacturers of medical products, devices and diagnostic equipment can soon reap significant benefits from the introduction of a temperature-monitoring Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) solution for the industry. TNT, leading provider of global express services, and a specialist in life sciences logistics, today revealed this as part of its findings from phase one of its RFID trials conducted over eight months this year in Singapore.

With an investment of S$500,000, the initiative which is a first in Asia, will address the specific needs of the healthcare industry to improve the visibility of medical products in transit to ensure its complete integrity.

Steve Stine, Life Sciences Medical Industry Director, TNT Asia, said, "An increasing number of medical products must be handled and shipped without getting too hot or too cold. Ensuring the precise temperature management of these shipments is therefore crucial as it is a life and death matter for patients who are tested or treated with these high-value products."

Robust RFID solution caters to needs of industry
Growing government vigilance in protecting patients means that the pressure is on medical manufacturers and their distributors to get products to hospitals and laboratories in optimal conditions. According to a recent survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers Health Research Institute, over 80 per cent of executives in the healthcare industry also cite increased transparency around cost and quality as important for future sustainability.

Yet, Asia is still playing catch-up to Europe and North America when it comes to preserving the in-transit integrity of life-saving medical products. "Every year millions of dollars of perishable medical products are written off due to quality and shelf life issues caused by temperature abuse. This may be due to Customs delays, climate changes and transit time irregularities, which can compromise product quality. It is, therefore, increasingly critical for manufacturers of medical diagnostic products to address these issues for the benefit of its customers, whether they be hospitals, medical and research laboratories, or medical products distributors," added Steve.

TNT's RFID cold-chain solution allows manufacturers to capture temperature changes of its delicate goods in transit and provide the assurance that goods are transported at optimal conditions, thereby offering end to end product control. The use of RFID monitoring can reduce liability and financial risk for manufacturers with the ability to now accurately determine where a temperature breach has occurred at any one point in the supply chain.

Adopting the temperature-monitoring RFID solution not only leads to greater cost accountability, as well as leaner and more efficient operations for manufacturers, but also improved customer satisfaction and sales.

Establishment of RFID solution in Singapore
The RFID cold chain solution is part of TNT's integrated cold chain management services for the life sciences industry, which offers a combination of leading-edge temperature-controlled packaging, product storage, shipment, documentation and in-transit temperature monitoring.

Leveraging its cold-chain management experience to address and serve the specific needs of leading medical device and diagnostic companies, TNT pioneered the use of the RFID technology from its Life Science Regional Distribution Centre (RDC) in Singapore.

It designed and delivered an RFID solution to monitor the temperature integrity of life-critical chemical re-agent products, which were transported from the TNT-managed RDC to Bangkok via TNT's Asia Road Network.

Commitment to the healthcare industry
According to Steve, while the establishment of RFID in the supply chain is an emerging opportunity in the life sciences industry, it needs to be supported with the in-depth expertise and knowledge to integrate this cutting-edge technology seamlessly into a customer's supply chain.

Part of the S$500,000 initial investment will also go towards the second phase of the project to further research and develop its RFID solutions to enhance the operational capabilities of its customers in the life sciences sector. With the initial success of the first phase of TNT's RFID trials, TNT has plans to also introduce the solution throughout other markets in Asia.

Last December, the company became the only integrator to use RFID to track express shipments on a global scale, following successful trials to fully integrate the company's existing systems with RFID equipment and continuous system upgrades.