AT&T, UPR and Suzuken Work Together to Improve Pharmaceutical Supply Chain
Global IoT Solutions from AT&T Help Safeguard Sensitive Medicines in Transit
Suzuken will use UPR WorldKeeper®, integrated with AT&T* Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, to help safely deliver sensitive medicines to hospitals, clinics and pharmacies globally.
The pharmaceutical wholesaler will use new tools to update its distribution. The UPR WorldKeeper, integrated with AT&T Cargo View® with FlightSafe®, will increase visibility for each shipment for Suzken globally. UPR WorldKeeper is a cargo tracking system from one of Japan’s leading logistics management firms. AT&T Cargo View with FlightSafe is a global IoT solution that provides customizable alerts which enable customers to quickly react to potential damage, unauthorized entry and other environmental changes that impact the cargo.
Suzuken plans to add an AT&T sensor in each sensitive medical shipment. It will collect and send data on temperature, vibration, shock and other conditions. Suzuken will track the location and near real-time condition of shipments on a mobile device or computer.
Medicines must travel carefully to preserve their quality and effectiveness. Distributors must dispose of any damaged medicines safely. Then they must replace them quickly so they have enough supplies.
Suzuken is overcoming these challenges. Its new IoT distribution solution increases the visibility of the pharmaceutical supply chain globally.
“With UPR WorldKeeper and AT&T’s global IoT solutions, we’ll help manufacturers, health insurance companies, pharmacies, and medical institutions save expensive medicines and provide safe medicines for patients. This can improve the quality of medical care,” said Hiromi Miyata, president and chief executive officer, Suzuken Co., Ltd.
To comply with industry regulations, medical distributors must carefully track lot numbers and drug expiry dates. For Suzuken, this means managing a complex supply chain that includes manufacturers, hospitals, and pharmacies around the world. The IoT solution lets Suzuken efficiently and closely tracks shipments from manufacturer to medical provider.
“Our IoT solutions can bring near real-time monitoring and efficient control to the medical supply chain globally,” said Manabu Oka, president of AT&T Japan. “Pharmaceutical companies are our initial focus. In the future, we want to continue to work with Suzuken to apply IoT to more medical sectors.”
AT&T develops IoT technology for a wide range of applications. Its solutions include asset tracking, smart meters, connected vehicles, and traffic management.
*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.
About the Suzuken Group
Established in 1932, the Suzuken Group is one of the largest Japanese pharmaceutical distribution and logistics services companies and is listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The Suzuken Group defines its business domain as the “health creator” field. The Group conducts a comprehensive range of businesses related to medical care and health, including not only its core pharmaceutical distribution business, but also the research, development, and manufacture of new medicines, support for pharmaceutical manufacturers, the insurance pharmacy business, and the nursing care business. In addition, the Suzuken Group is the only pharmaceutical wholesale company in Japan that has distribution functions (a "medical distribution platform") extending from pharmaceutical manufacturers to distributors, and from the distributors to medical institutions and insurance pharmacies. Additionally, the Suzuken Group’s strengths lie in its ability to provide one-stop solutions to meet increasingly diverse and sophisticated pharmaceutical distribution needs from the perspective of manufacturers, medical institutions, insurance pharmacies, and patients.
With over 2 trillion yen in annual net sales, the Suzuken Group is headquartered in Nagoya, Japan and employs approximately 16,000 people.
For more information, go to http://www.suzuken.co.jp/en/
About AT&T
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