FourKites and Cardinal Health has announced a partnership to enhance tracking of medical equipment, pharmaceutical products, first aid supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) in transit to hospitals, pharmacies and other care facilities worldwide.
FourKites’ tracking and analytics capabilities are planned to help Cardinal Health optimise supply chain operations and enable a fast and reliable experience for the pharmacies and hospitals that depend upon Cardinal Health for critical supplies.
“Delivery of healthcare products directly impacts patients, and ensuring these products reach their destinations on time and in full has never been more critical. This type of transparency helps build trust in the connection between the Cardinal Health supply chain and our customers” said Sean Halligan, SVP of Pharmaceutical Operations at Cardinal Health. “By partnering with FourKites, we will have end-to-end visibility to see products in transit and make any necessary adjustments to provide a frictionless experience to our customers everywhere and help them better serve their patients.”
FourKites will serve as the central data hub for Cardinal Health’s cognitive supply chain network, which reportedly combines real-time supply chain visibility, machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities to facilitate the unencumbered flow of inventory throughout the supply chain. The cognitive supply chain will give customers visibility to network in-transit shipments via the company’s ordering platforms. This is hoped to help the industry predict demand; better manage and protect products in transit; and track and account for products as they are delivered.
“Distributing medical products comes with many complexities — security, temperature control, trade challenges, multiple geographies and transportation modes, transit times, and carrier capacity — that have to be precisely managed and tightly coordinated across a large network of stakeholders,” said FourKites CEO and founder Mathew Elenjickal. “We are honoured to be selected by Cardinal Health to provide real-time visibility into these critical shipments and to help the company execute on its broader vision for a cognitive supply chain.”
FourKites’ work with Cardinal Health began during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic with a pilot programme designed to provide the company with middle-mile visibility into PPE shipments as demand for its products grew. During this initial engagement, the companies built a courier tracking solution to address the requirements for healthcare products that need precise temperature controls and “white glove treatment” during transport.
