Technology Advances in Medication Logistics in Brazil

Five years ago, many specialists stated that logistics and the supply chain would not have a long life if they did not invest in new technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, digitization, the use of robots and so on. All this is because around 25% of global consumption, which is constantly increasing, would be concentrated in 60 megacities. At the same time, the new consumer behavior that demands greater efficiency, connectivity and agility 'forces' companies to invest in intelligence systems.

Several sectors of the Brazilian economy understood the transformation of these scenarios and today, technology is increasingly present in various processes of Brazilian logistics. Especially in large companies, there are specific departments for creating new processes and technologies that improve logistics.

Increasingly, the concept of logistics 4.0 highlights the importance of automating processes, digitizing activities and speeding up the sharing of information to maintain competitiveness in operations. For example, the pharmaceutical, hospital, cosmetics and health channels need high performance in their logistics operations to maintain the safety and quality of their products during the storage and transport stages.

For years, our company has made annual investments to leverage innovation in our processes in line with employee training and digitalization of processes. To further strengthen everything, we have developed over the past four years. We implemented a specific sector for managing the Control Tower, responsible for integrating all the technologies implemented by the company in recent years.

The Control Tower centralizes all the branch operations data in real-time and allows the quick interpretation of the indicators generated by the operation for possible decision-making in an agile and even preventive way. As a result, we achieved a strong competitive edge to achieve the levels of excellence in logistical operations required by companies in the health and beauty sectors.

The company has more than 25 dashboards (control panels) that allow the monitoring of dozens of parameters, which contribute to exceeding the level of performance required in the market, as well as: delivery times, scheduling, driver performance, the status of deliveries in real-time, fleet cargo occupancies, team working hours, drivers' conduct, tire maintenance management, operation profile for each trip, control of transfer and collection operations, telemetry of the driver's behavior behind the wheel, ability to branch supply, issuance and delivery of invoices for goods, arrival and departure time of transfer vehicles, driver training status, history of the cargo cycle until delivery and its location.

With the fundamental support of technology, we were able to manage in real-time the operations of more than 1,000 customers in its 20 units throughout Brazil, which move around 50,000 tons of health and beauty products per month, which totalled 300,000 tons moved in the first semester.

"The technologies implemented and controlled by a specific sector play an essential role in providing more detailed visibility of the monitoring of collections and deliveries of goods in real-time"

The technologies implemented and controlled by a specific sector play an essential role in providing more detailed visibility of the monitoring of collections and deliveries of goods in real-time and brought planning uniformity to all branches, in addition to providing our employees and customers with a model of integration that allows for adjustments in the operation to avoid possible operational obstacles.

With regard to urban mobility, we increasingly invest in routing systems for the best route for trucks, as the national market opts in many cases for shipments with smaller amounts of cargo, but more frequently at the point of sale. In many cases, our operation is scheduled to deliver daily shipments within 24 hours of each other.

The company invests an annual average of 14% of its revenues for the creation and expansion of units, air conditioning of warehouses according to ANVISA rules, integrated systems, automation of distribution processes, application of new technologies for fleets, and cargo tracking, among others. In 2021, more than R$50 million were invested.

Clovis A. Gil, President of Ativa Logística, one of the largest logistics operators for the beauty and health industries in Brazil.