Global supply chains have been making headlines—in some cases for the all the wrong reasons—since the COVID pandemic upended the world economy. A shortage of microchips, semi-conductors, and other crucial components has made logistics management challenging in many industries. Shipping products has becoming increasingly expensive as supply chain capacities are stretched to the limit. The recent spectacle of a skyscraper-sized…
In a warehouse with tens of thousands of square feet of storage, it can be difficult to maintain an accurate picture of inventory and overall operations. Even pallet-level barcodes do not resolve this issue, as a barcode reader must have a direct line of sight to capture a barcode’s data. This means relying on warehouse…
Though the commercial usage of Radio Frequency Identification or RFID technology was started in the 1990s, its implementation in the pharmaceutical supply chain has been relatively new. Several pharma companies still rely on barcoding as the more widely accepted form of electronic identification. A barcode on a pharmaceutical product package acts as a stock-keeping unit…
In recent years, the issue of food traceability has received increasing attention from both producers and consumers. For manufacturers and producers, tracking food in the supply chain makes it easier to comply with FSMA food safety rules and prepare for potential emergencies such as foodborne illnesses. The recent example of Salmonella infections linked to onions…
Tracking and tracing pharmaceutical products is more than just an exercise in inventory management. It is a life-saving practice that is mandated by law. In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and local health authorities tracked a multistate outbreak of fungal meningitis back to a compounding center in Massachusetts. The compounding center was illegally…
No food supply chain will ever be perfect. There’s always a chance that a load of contaminated food products will make its way through to the consumer. However, having a traceable supply chain makes it much easier to find contaminated products and dispose of them properly. Food supply chain transparency is also crucial in order…