Valued clients, vendors and friends –
Each year, in January, the MD Logistics Executive Team and I hold a planning summit, where we review initiatives and set performance goals for the year to follow. During this time, we discuss trends impacting not just the logistics industry, but also our clients industries, ensuring that we remain poised to respond to the needs of their supply chain. Moving into 2025, our team is aligned on what to expect from the coming year. With the end of Q1 quickly approaching, these are our predictions for what lies ahead in 2025.
Yet again this year, I think the industry will continue to experience geopolitical impacts to business. With a new administration at the federal level, uncertainty about what is in store is inevitable. In 2024, we started to see the economy improve and I remain hopeful this trend will continue into the new year.
In recent years, demand for compliant solutions within the Life Sciences and Pharmaceuticals industry has been extremely robust and we expect that to continue for some time to come. The market for those who operate within the space is good! As an organization we continue to field requests from both current and potential clients alike. As we continue to field requests for additional capacity, we are actively evaluating how MD can respond. This response includes the second phase of a building conversion which we announced early in 2024. We expect completion of this project later this year. In addition, we believe industry demand will create opportunities for further expansion and we are actively working towards that. As an independent subsidiary of Nippon Express, our clients are able to utilize the NX global pharmaceutical network for a true end to end supply chain solution. Nippon Express possesses extensive experience within the global supply chain, operating GDP-certified container freight stations around the globe. Partnering with MD Logistics and Nippon Express ensures your pharmaceutical supply chain integrity remains in tact from point of origin to final destination.
We continue to field demand for growing complexities within the health and life science supply chain and the requirements of 3PLs to conform to evolving regulatory needs these products possess. In response, we kicked off a project to upgrade our warehouse management system (WMS) to be able to better retain and distribute the additional data that is now required of us to capture. While this project is a large undertaking for our IT team, it is one that will ensure we can easily adapt to the needs of an evolving industry. We look forward to its completion in 2026.
I believe we will continue to see a heavier emphasis placed on security. As our world becomes more digital, it becomes increasingly more important that we invest in the proper security measures to ensure our client’s supply chain remains intact and secure. We continue to evolve in leveraging best in class solutions, relying on more robust security solutions, to ensure our client’s remain protected. In addition to cybersecurity inquiries, we are fielding more requests for increased security measures as it relates to compliance with higher TAPA requirements. This growing focus on security is not a “trend” which will go away any time soon. It’s our responsibility as providers to an industry with high value product to ensure that our clients product is secure throughout all points in the supply chain, not just limited to warehousing, but including transportation. For us, this means continuing to work with our qualified carriers to ensure they are compliant with these safety standards.
Sustainability continues to drive our business decisions and process improvements. Several of our clients have already made strategic commitments to sustainability and reducing carbon emissions, and as their partner, we are poised to support these commitments. We couldn’t, however, achieve these targets without the support of our parent company, Nippon Express. As an independent subsidiary of Nippon Express, we have adopted their directives and commitments to sustainability as our own and have used these to influence our business decisions. Their guidance has allowed us to easily respond to the needs of the industry.
With our growth and the ever changing requirements of our clients, we continue to evaluate and resource load accordingly, creating tremendous opportunity for internal and external talent. In 2024, we doubled the amount of internal promotions of MD Logistics team members, over the previous year. Empowering our team to be industry experts is what makes our team a leader in supply chain solutions.
Through our executive strategy meetings and ongoing dialogue with clients, our team is poised to respond to additional trends that may arise throughout the year. As we look ahead to the future, we are excited about additional opportunities for expansion and look forward to celebrating our 30th anniversary in 2026. If you are in the life sciences and pharmaceuticals industry and are looking for a 3PL provider, reach out to our team of logistics experts today!
Wishing you a prosperous 2025!
John Sell
