Case Name :      Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma

Authors :           Mohit Srivastava, Helen Rogers, Kulwant Pawar, Janat Shah

Source :             Ivey Publishing

Case ID :            W13525

Discipline :        Operations Management

Case Length :    12 pages

Solution Sample availability : YES

Plagiarism : NO (100% Original work)

The supply chain director of Indo-Euro Pharma summoned an urgent meeting in response to significant losses incurred by the company in the last fiscal year. This was primarily due to the return of yet another international consignment of temperature-sensitive drugs (TSDs) – this time worth millions of dollars. The meeting focused on the inability of Indo-Euro Pharma to appropriately distribute and monitor TSDs cost effectively across the various stages and locations of the supply chain – especially at the pharmacist level. Deviations from drugs’ required temperature ranges could happen during packaging, storage, transport, loading and unloading in aircraft, sea containers, trucks, etc. It was extremely difficult to monitor whether pharmacists were following proper procedures for storing TSDs. Most medical stores in India had domestic refrigerators that required frequent calibration. The problems indicated the need for Indo-Euro Pharma to adopt an alternative distribution system that was specifically tailored for TSDs.