SAP Launches New IoT Solutions at SAP® Leonardo Live - SAP GTT arrives

FRANKFURT, Germany, July 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) launched several new Internet of Things (IoT) solutions at SAP® Leonardo Live, its global summit being held July 11–12 in Frankfurt, Germany, to showcase the latest technology and use cases for innovation, including the IoT. Part of the SAP Leonardo digital innovation system, these IoT solutions take advantage of advances in Big Data and analytics, the ability to connect people, things and business with SAP Cloud Platform, and technologies such as machine learning to enable IoT and Industry 4.0 strategies across digital logistics, manufacturing and asset management. 

The new solutions include:

• SAP Leonardo IoT Bridge, a configurable role-based digital command center giving operations managers unprecedented visibility and ability to act in real time
• SAP Global Track and Trace, a cloud-based offering for unified, end-to-end tracking, monitoring and reporting of objects and business processes across supply chain networks
• SAP Leonardo IoT Edge software to bring compute, storage and business semantics via the cloud to where intelligent devices reside outside of the data center, for near real-time and deterministic performance of business processes
• SAP Digital Manufacturing Insights, a centralized, cloud-based manufacturing performance management solution that provides comprehensive visibility into manufacturing that enables process optimization
• SAP Asset Manager, a cloud-based mobile app for managing asset health, inventory, maintenance and safety

"Less than one year ago, we announced our commitment to invest and grow our IoT business," said Dr. Tanja Rueckert, president, IoT and Digital Supply Chain, SAP. "With SAP Leonardo as our digital innovation system, our new solutions and the many customers and partners demonstrating real-life use cases with us at SAP Leonardo Live, we are defining the path to digital transformation with innovation that can scale across the entire organization." Read full news release on PR Newswire

NNIT Announces Partnership with SAP to collaborate on IDMP

"NNIT collaborates with SAP to deliver leading IT software and services for identification of medicinal products (IDMP) tailored to improve the reporting and tracking of product safety."

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Oct. 5, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NNIT, a global provider of IT services and consultancy, today announced a worldwide partnership with SAP SE, the market leader in enterprise application software, to market leading solutions supporting regulatory compliance for Identification of Medicinal Products (IDMP) within the pharmaceutical industry.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is implementing five new standards developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Pharmaceutical companies will be required to submit data on medicines to EMA in accordance with common global formats and terminologies. The penultimate goal as defined by the EMA is to improve overall patient safety.
Committed to support these new regulatory requirements, NNIT will introduce tailored, innovative solutions intended to secure successful IDMP compliance within the authority timelines. Read full Globe Newswire article here

Supply Chain Execution with SAP software

In this three-minute video, Markus Rosemann, VP Solution Management, Supply Chain Execution, SAP, talks about SAP solutions for logistics and fulfillment. Learn more about SAP solutions for Transportation Management, Warehouse Management, and Track & Trace.

Brazil Suspends Pharma Serialization And Tracing Requirements | RxTrace

"Last week, Brazil’s pharma industry regulatory agency, the National Agency of Sanitary Surveillance (ANVISA), announced that they were “suspending” at least part of RDC-54/2013, the declaration that mandated drug serialization and tracing, until further notice.  Thank you to all who forwarded the link to the official announcement.  I was able to translate and read it on Thursday, and I submitted a comment on my own last essay, “Pharma Serialization Deadlines In Flux“, to include the link.  Apparently shortly after that essay was published, ANVISA  publicly announced the suspension." Dirk Rodgers - Read the full article from Dirk here.

Why serialization is vital for pharmaceutical product integrity in the cold chain

Read entire article at the Cold Chain View blog.

More than ever before, drug security is an important issue in ensuring the integrity of medicines and vaccines reaching patients. The industry needs to demonstrate that we care for patients, and are putting all necessary measures in place to ensure that medicines are safe to be taken.

That means knowing the entire journey of a medicine through the supply chain, and having fully automated documentation about the conditions on its journey. One of the ways in which this can be addressed in the cold supply chain is through serialization. A key driver for implementing serialization will be global compliance requirements coming into play. The USA introduced the Drug Supply Chain Security Act at the end of 2013, which will require the availability of information at individual package level about where a drug has been in the supply chain.

Making the business case for implementing serialization cost-effectively in the supply chain

Read the full article at the Cold Chain View blog.

As part of the implementation of serialization, automation of the process will become law within 10 years. As already highlighted previously, serialization provides accountability and traceability of every item shipped in the supply chain. The need to conform to these new requirements might at first glance look like it would require costly additional investment. But it need not be – and it might even be more cost-effective, once you take into account the additional benefits that could be obtained.

3PL Operation Under The DSCSA - RxTrace.com paper

Photo from Wikipedia

Dirk Rodgers has written another great article covering the impact on 3PLs when considering the DSCSA - Read the full article on RxTrace.com

Another type of business affected by the U.S. Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) is the third party logistics provider (3PL) business.

I wrote an RxTrace essay about the impact of the California pedigree law on 3PLs back in 2013 (see “3PL Operation Under California ePedigree“).  This is an update of that essay to address the impacts of the new DSCSA on 3PLs since the California pedigree law is now obsolete.

There are a number of important differences between wholesale distributors and 3PLs as defined in the DSCSA.

NFI Chooses MacroPoint for Load Tracking

MacroPoint, creators of patented freight tracking software designed to give 3rd party visibility into load status, today announced that NFI, a fully integrated supply chain solutions provider, has implemented its solution to enhance load tracking capabilities within its brokerage service offering.

“We chose MacroPoint to fill a gap in the track and trace function of our business,” said David Broering, SVP, Integrated Solutions at NFI. “MacroPoint gives us another tool to use to provide our carrier partners with options for updating us with the location of the loads they’re hauling. With MacroPoint we will also be able to track more loads with the same number of people, allowing us to scale our business faster without having to incur additional overhead costs.”

NFI, headquartered in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, is a privately held company that provides dedicated transportation, warehousing, intermodal, brokerage, transportation management, global, real estate, and trailer storage services. The more than $1.1 billion operation has 25 million square feet of warehouse and distribution space and a company-owned fleet of over 2,000 tractors and 8,200 trailers, operated by more than 2,600 company drivers and 250 owner operators.

Activated on the mobile phones of drivers hired by NFI’s carrier partners, MacroPoint’s location tracking software provides load status and location visibility. With MacroPoint, the company now has real-time location tracking, on-time delivery monitoring, and arrival/departure notifications, eliminating the need for third parties to check in to receive load status reports.

Read full press release here: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/05/prweb12741478.htm

SAP Track and Trace solution – Part 1 – Outbound Logistics

Most organizations deal with the shipment of goods in to and out of their premises. With the increasing demand for a better customer experience it is a challenge to provide a high level of customer service when parts of your supply chain fall somewhat out of your “sphere of influence”. Sure, through contractual obligations, you can try and force your suppliers and carriers to behave in a certain way but as the old saying goes “stuff happens!”. If the supply chain breaks down outside of your 4 walls, are you aware of it? Do you have enough time between when you find out about the issue and the time needed to correct it? Do these issues in the supply chain cause disruption and potentially lead to lost customers and sales?

The key to remedying this issue was discussed back in the 1990’s and was termed Supply Chain Event Management – Give me the ability to monitor the events occurring THROUGHOUT my supply chain as and when they occur – Let me measure these events against what I had expected to occur and if it differs in any way let me know so that I can take proactive measures to correct it.SAP was a part of the “think tank” that came up with the term “Supply Chain Event Management” and created the product SAP Event Management to provide us with this functionality. It went in to General Availability in 2004 so has been around rather a long time…

In this article I want to describe how SAP Event Management forms the back-bone of your Track and Trace requirements and specifically focus on the outbound logistics scenario.

Firstly let me describe what Track and Trace is and how it relates to my issue described above.

The DSCSA Product Identifier On Drug Packages - Dirk Rodgers

According to the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA), manufacturers must apply a new “Product Identifier” on all of their prescription drug products by November 27, 2017 (Repackagers by that date in 2018).  The DSCSA Product Identifier is defined this way:

“PRODUCT IDENTIFIER.—
The term ‘product identifier’ means a standardized graphic that includes, in both human-readable form and on a machine-readable data carrier that conforms to the standards developed by a widely recognized international standards development organization, the standardized numerical identifier, lot number, and expiration date of the product.”  (Section 581[14])

Frequentz Inc's Track and Trace Solution news

PALO ALTO, Calif., April 28, 2015 - As the counterfeit drug market grows and the pharmaceutical supply chain becomes more complex, Frequentz Inc., a global leader and champion of end-to-end visibility, is proud to announce they are validating medications flowing through two-thirds of the 67,000 U.S. pharmacies. Frequentz's track and trace system is utilized by two of the top three global distributors of pharmaceuticals, increasing Frequentz's ability to help keep consumers safe. With such broad reach, Frequentz gives consumers the confidence they can trust the medications coming from the majority of pharmacies and contract manufacturers.

Read full article at PR Newswire

5th Traceability and the Drug Quality and Security Act - ExL Events

5th Traceability and the Drug Quality and Security Act - An ExL Event

5th Traceability and the Drug Quality and Security Act– 5th Traceability and the Drug Quality and Security Act

Join us in Morristown, New Jersey at the 5th Traceability and the Drug Quality and Security Act conference to learn from leading supply chain experts about they have managed to provide business value through serialization and pedigree beyond regulatory compliance. Make sure you have everything in place to be able to respond to FDA inquiries within 48 hours to avoid high fines and work effectively together with your wholesalers and dispensers. This interactive forum discusses best practices for track and trace and lessons learned from implementing an integrated global supply chain security program that improves transparency, secures your supply chain and protects your brand, all while leveraging business benefits.

SAP Event Management: OnStar® for Your Supply Chain

What are you planning tomorrow… shipments, deliveries, receipts, production of a certain high-demand product, truck breakdown, train derailment, warehouse equipment failure, a computer disaster that prevents delivery processing and stacks up carriers’ vehicles? … the former, most certainly; the latter, probably not.

Pharma Serialization Update - April

Bill Fletcher highlights a few key deadlines looming for Pharma Serialization:

1. The FDA enforcement discretion not to enforce the transaction document aspects of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) ends May 1. Companies who may have chosen to spend more time working out kinks in their transaction document (TD) may be running out of time.  
2. There is controversy with the way shipper cases are tracked in Brazil.
3. Companies selling into Brazil will now need to collect traceability data from 3 LOTs by December of this year. 
4. Chinese traceability is fully effective this December.  
5. New requirements in India for primary packages are creating very onerous designs on manufacturers
6. EU delegated acts for Falsified Medicines is expected in the next couple of months. Encoding will include GTIN, country reimbursement code, LOT expiration date and serial number in human readable and encoded in a GS1 DataMatrix symbol

Bill Fletcher - Pharma-Logic

ANVISA And The SSCC Controversy - By Dirk Rodgers

GS1’s Serial Shipping Container Code, or SSCC, has been around a long time, but the logistics identifier has recently taken center-stage in a number of controversies related to meeting several country-specific pharma traceability regulations. I’ll cover these controversies in multiple essays—in this one, Brazil. 
This controversy started when ANVISA, the pharma regulator in Brazil, indicated in their regulations that they expected companies to mark every “transport package” entering their supply chain with a unique identification code so that each serialized unit inside can be associated with it (the aggregation requirement).
The problem is, a homogeneous case of product can be both a “standard grouping” of the product and a transport package. GS1 recommends that “standard groupings” of product be marked with its own GS1 Global Trade Item Number, or GTIN. Read the full article at RxTrace.com - Author Dirk Rodgers

India’s Pharma Export Regulations Update And The NECC Story

India’s Pharma Export Regulations Update And The NECC Story - By Dirk Rodgers of RxTrace.com
I was more than a little disappointed when I saw that SecuringIndustry.com had beaten me in a race to publish an essay/article about the new crazy serialization and traceability requirements published last week by the government of India.  That was to be my topic for next Monday.  But after reading their excellent coverage—received just as I was sitting down to begin writing—I felt better.  At least I had not yet started writing!  Don’t miss Phil Taylor’s excellent coverage and his link to the source regulation.  See if you agree how crazy it is. View full article here

The Industrial Internet Consortium Announces Release of “Track andTrace”

MBBP client The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), a non-profit group whose mission is to accelerate growth of the Industrial Internet by identifying, assembling and promoting best practices, has announced the release of the Track and Trace testbed. The goal of this project is to manage handheld power tools in manufacturing and maintenance environments by efficiently […]


https://blogmbbp.wordpress.com/2015/02/18/the-industrial-internet-consortium-announces-release-of-track-and-trace/

Using SAP EM to reduce the costs of your small parcel shipments

SAP Event Management Use Cases – Part 1

I often get asked how we can leverage SAP Event Management functionality. This is a great question because, after all, SAP EM is a tool that is delivered with SAP to provide end-to-end business process visibility and exception management. Much like you would leverage a workflow solution to enforce certain activities to take place at […]


https://qdatausa.wordpress.com/2014/09/23/sap-em-use-cases/

Ocean Track & Trace powered by the Salesforce Platform

We would like to invite you to test, with your own containers/bookings, how to improve your customer service with our Track & Trace feature already integrated with 60 Ocean Carriersfor containers events and any vessel for AIS position. Please see on the link below, how you can dramatically change the way you manage your Import-Export business: Demo On-Line Key […]


http://neuroredcloudcomputing.com/2014/10/24/ocean-track-trace-powered-by-the-salesforce-platform/