As and when India surpasses the hurdle in search of the corona virus vaccine, it will also have to gear up for the stringent temperature requirements for its effective transportation. In this regard, Kool-ex’s plan to set up the largest of its kind, state-of-art pharmaceutical storage footprint in the country will prove to be the right step towards taking care of this critical logistics’ need. This will be done in collaboration with India’s largest industrial and logistics real estate developer, IndoSpace, reports Rajesh Rajgor
The unprecedented impact of the pandemic has made it pertinent for the logistics industry to focus on quality, hygiene, visibility and sustainability of the products. It is more so in the high-value products of the pharmaceutical industries. While vaccines get developed and Indian pharmaceutical companies begin their effective transportation, Kool-ex has geared up to ensure an efficient logistics’ network. Building on its 23 years of pharmaceutical cold chain transportation expertise, Kool-ex is now entering into warehousing, secondary distribution, passive packaging and blockchain for the pharmaceutical sector, making it an end-to-end pharmaceutical supply chain player.
Elaborating on this development, Rahul Agarwal, Managing Director, Kool-ex, said, “We aspire to become the largest dedicated player in the pharmaceutical warehousing space offering over 10-11 GDP (goods distribution practices) and GWP (goods warehousing practices)-compliant, multi-client, pharmaceutical distribution centres over the next three years. With a unique combination of primary and secondary distribution, warehousing, passive packaging and blockchain, we are moving towards the ambition of becoming a preferred full stack supply chain solution partner to the pharmaceutical industry.”
“Our focus continues on offering high-quality integrated solutions as well as flexibility in adapting to the pharmaceutical industry’s specific requirements with a pay-per-use model. We have also recently developed portable cold rooms for storage in minus 20 degrees Celsius and cryostorage or transport solutions in the minus 80 degrees Celsius space. This will make us a complete solutions provider,” he added.
Bridging the Gap
Kool-ex, which stemmed out of the two-decade old Bhoruka Logistics, started its cold chain operations in 2012. The idea was to offer express cold chain parcel service in the cold chain sector for vaccines and insulin. The company identified the supply chain gap pretty early. Shared Agarwal: “There was a growing demand for 2-8 degrees Celsius temperature movement. We began with eight trucks and eight cold rooms that acted as hubs for sensitive lifesaving medicines which got consolidated and were moved for an onward journey. The response from the industry was heartening.”
“Today, we are a fleet of 300 reefer vehicles from the stable of Tata Motors and Eicher, taking care of the primary and secondary logistics of reputed pharmaceutical companies. We meet their need for moving APIs (active pharmaceutical ingredients)-compliant raw material to their plants and finished goods or formulations to the stockists following the best global practices,” he added. Once the primary transportation setup was firmly established, Kool-ex evolved its secondary logistics. It involves movement of goods from pharmaceutical warehouses to stockists and dealers in the city. “We are already doing it for a couple of companies and plan to now scale it up pan-India. It will be a second business offering from our trucking part, enabling us to offer end-to-end supply chain for pharmaceutical companies,” Agarwal informed. The next step was thus to get into warehousing and address the opening in the market with respect to an affordable, sustainable and multi-temperature and multi-client, storage facilities and tighten the grip over an end-to-end business offering.
The Indospace deal, thus, is highly opportune, not only for Kool-ex but also for the entire industry. “The final draft guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health coupled with the impact of the pandemic makes it pertinent to bring more focus around quality, hygiene, compliance and sustainability. Indospace, with their pan-India network, echoed our vision of creating first-of-its kind, world-class pharmaceutical storage in India,” Agarwal shared. “These warehouses will enable consolidation in the fragmented pharmaceutical distribution sector along with efficiency in operations, reduction in inventory, reduced handling losses, compliance and cost optimisation besides complete visibility in the chain,” he added.
Getting it Ready
Given the huge opportunity to consolidate and optimize the distribution network to reduce logistics costs across India in the pharmaceutical sector, Kool-ex’s partnership is based on the potential for growth and consolidation, particularly post the current health crisis and hygiene awareness related to the pandemic. It is also but natural for Kool-ex to leverage years of their knowledge, capabilities, dedicated and motivated teams and the guidance of seasoned pharmaceutical advisors. Elaborated Agarwal: “We are ready for end-to-end distribution of the virus vaccine with dual temperature-capable reefers, multi-temperature cold rooms and last mile delivery solutions, including portable cryogenic solutions for extremely low temperatures with real-time traceability.”
“Pharmaceutical companies can utilise our warehouses as per demand and rent as per their need. This will save them from investing in any huge capital expenditure. The aim is to bring the operational cost for per vial to as low as Rs 1. We will be the first in the industry to work on per unit cost in this new normal,” he added. One of the aspects that will help Kool-ex realise its low ‘per unit cost’ will be state-of-the-art warehousing facility boasting of CFC-free chemicals. “Right from the chemicals used for panelling or refrigerant used for cooling, we have created the warehouse using cooling-efficient, CFC-free natural refrigerants and chemicals. We are also using 100 per cent solar panel roof top – making the project highly energy-efficient,” Agarwal informed.
“Given the fact that the size is four times that of the other warehouses, the cost of construction per pallet will be 25 -30 per cent lower than the industry. The facility will not only give us a competitive edge to provide low-cost, world-class facilities, but also help create a strong entry barrier for competition,” Agarwal revealed. Furthermore, these will be certified green warehouses with 100 per cent solar back-up. Each warehouse that will be built would be able to host 40,000 pallets, making Kool-ex the largest standalone cold chain capacity with such an infrastructure. “We are looking at 11 such facilities and hence we are looking at half a million of pallet positions, thus making us the largest cold chain warehousing company in this part of Asia. The roll-out plan is to do it in 3-4 years. These units will be equipped with a modern, state-of-the-art temperature controlling system that will ensure the safety of sensitive cargo based on good distribution practice (GDP) and good warehousing practice (GWP)” he added.
Fleet for Transportation
Most vaccines will require storage at 2–8 degrees Celsius and potentially minus 80 degrees Celsius, as is revealed through internet research. Undoubtedly, this approach will require the development of novel solutions for establishing and maintaining low to very low temperatures. Kool-ex’s strategic approach to logistics and transportation includes multi-temperature refrigerated bodies, extremely trained and experienced employees, progressive technologies to ensure validated temperature control and product tracking from pickup to delivery along with extensive contingency systems.
“For the last two decades in Bhoruka Logistics and over the last eight years in Kool-ex, we have always emphasised on quality and are committed to continuous improvement. We are transparent about our operations; we provide extensive metrics reporting, in-transit visibility and milestone updates to our clients. Most of our clients also audit us twice a year to reassure we deliver on what we have promised. Today we work with 90 companies out of the top 100 in the pharmaceutical industry in the country,” Agarwal stated. One of the other things that Kool-ex has bolstered is their selection of vendor partners for their fleets.
According to Agarwal, “Apart from the top-notch fleet from Tata and Eicher, we source AC units from Carrier, a world leader in cooling solutions; Bridgestone Tyres, which are undoubtedly the best in the business; and we get insulated boxes from quality players like Reefer India and Sub Zero amongst others. We source fuel directly from IOCL. Every fortnight we have a training session by our vendor partners for our staff and drivers. There is a learning curve on know how to fix things if broken along with maintaining the right tyre pressure, setting and preserving the right temperature, managing vehicles during a breakdown, tracking a vehicle’s location, route and estimated time of arrival, maintenance of a vehicle and its speed.”
“These are some of the key parameters that are diligently taken care of .We have all sanctions and approvals as documentary proofs that showcases our ability to handle these pharmaceutical products. The precision in quality thus ensures that Kool-ex is able to offer reliable, uniform, cost-effective delivery of life-saving pharmaceutical products,” he further stated. With increasing focus on healthcare, hygiene and precautions in the ongoing pandemic, it quite evident that the pharmaceutical sector will only see growth and the transportation and storage requirement will increase manifold. An efficient and specialised supply chain network will be a prerequisite to ensure safe and rapid delivery of billions of medicines and vaccines not just for the ongoing pandemic but also to ensure that all the correct life-saving drugs reach at the right temperature across the nation.