Written by: Mark Sell, President & CEO, MD Logistics
In the logistics industry, speed to market could make or break a customer experience especially when handling temperature sensitive products in the life science and pharmaceuticals industry.
Many pharmaceutical products are required to be kept within a certain temperature range to be effective, this creates a potential issue in distribution. There often is a time range in which delivery needs to occur for the product to be considered safe to administer. Because of this, manufacturers must take transit time and location into consideration when planning their distribution strategy.
As a third party logistics provider, operating within the Retail and Consumer Goods and Life Science and Pharmaceuticals industries, we saw the importance of being able to offer our customers solutions that allowed their products to get to the consumer as fast as possible. This drove our warehouse expansion strategy to have both a Midwest and West Coast presence within the life science and pharmaceutical industry.
Known as the crossroads of America, Indianapolis offers close proximity to three major ports of entry, five major interstates, and the eighth largest cargo center in the nation, the Indianapolis International Airport. This strategic location allows a 48 hour shipping window to over 65% of the United States, thus allowing for increased efficiency and decreased transportation costs. With one of the top infrastructures in the US, Indianapolis is poised to take advantage of every mode of transportation the city has to offer to provide our customers with the most direct and efficient distribution channel. Its central location allows our Indiana-based warehouses to fully support our customers’ needs in the Midwest and along the East Coast.
Shipping products to the West Coast can be both costly and challenging. As the pharmaceutical vertical of our business continued to expand along with our customer’s, we knew we had to continue to increase our supply chain offerings. That expansion centered around offering our life science and pharmaceutical customers a West Coast warehousing solution. We knew that our distribution times were greater shipping to the western half of the US from our current warehouses in Indianapolis. Expanding our reach further West would allow us to help current and potential customers increase their speed to market and uphold product quality. In 2011, we opened another facility in Reno, Nevada. In total, the facility in Reno is a 55,000 square foot FDA registered, pharmaceutical grade warehouse adhering to cGMP compliance. This facility includes controlled room temperature and cold chain storage as well as distribution services for some of our clients in the Life Science and Pharmaceuticals Industry.
With the addition of this facility in Reno, we are able to reach over 80% of the US population, to include those in the 11 western states, within a 48 hour ground shipping window. Due to its access to two major highway corridors and the Reno-Tahoe International Airport, Reno, Nevada has become the logistics hub of the West. Reno’s strategic location and proximity to some of the largest metropolitan districts in the U.S. allows for subsequent cost and time savings. Reno’s business climate also made it an ideal location for our west coast facility.
Geographical location of your supply chain is important to consider for a variety of reasons. Choosing an area that allows you to quickly get your product into the hands of your consumer is key when it comes to customer experience and patient need. As more options become readily available via omnichannel purchasing methods, the customer experience becomes vitally important to your brand and your product. All of these factors contributed to our decision at MD Logistics to add a west coast pharmaceutical distribution option to our comprehensive service offering. Please consider reaching out to our team to assist you with your life science and pharmaceutical supply chain needs.
