Smart Logistics

Recent years have seen an increase in the specialty drug market, including orphan drugs, expensive drugs, biomedicine, regenerative medicine, and the like. In addition to being expensive, specialty drugs require strict management of temperature, inventory, and security. Moreover, as the generic drug market also expands, there is an even greater need than before to closely share information among pharmaceutical companies, pharmaceutical wholesalers, medical institutions, and pharmacies; to thereby meticulously manage pharmaceutical distribution inventory and adjust supply and demand; and to formulate optimal production and import plans based on sophisticated demand forecasting. Against this backdrop, pharmaceutical supply shortages and waste of expensive drugs due to maldistribution of inventory are issues that require the urgent establishment of a problem-solving mechanism. In order to deliver the drugs that are needed to the people who need them at any given time, it is essential that we build a mechanism that will realize safe, secure, and reliable pharmaceutical distribution and a reduction in social costs.

Since April 2022, we have collaborated with SoftBank Corp. and begun conducting demonstrations, including with major drugstores, geared toward realizing digital transformation (DX) for pharmaceutical distribution. The pharmaceutical shipping and inventory data that the Suzuken Group collects during the distribution process is aggregated, and then it is collected and visualized in real time using SoftBank’s communication infrastructure. We then provide the inventory data and pharmaceuticals’ consumption and sales status to medical institutions, pharmacies, and pharmaceutical companies. They use the data to optimize inventory and order volumes, in an effort to reduce non-moving products, curtailing pharmaceutical waste, and make shipping more efficient. In April 2023, we began offering a delivery schedule app and delivery schedule notification service, which allow customers to use a smartphone or computer to easily check the delivery date for products that they have ordered, as well as for substitutes when products are out of stock. By linking an inventory visualization mechanism with existing orders and distribution tasks, we are looking into adding functions such as ordering support and automatic route creation, as well as information sharing via interlocking with COLLABO Portal.

So far, the Suzuken Group has constructed its proprietary pharmaceutical distribution platform in the context of the supply chain, covering drugs from pharmaceutical companies' factories and distribution centers until they reach the hands of patients, in an effort to strengthen reliable supply and quality management and optimize distribution inventory. Moving forward, we will introduce digital technology to strengthen our pharmaceutical distribution platform, with the aim of realizing Smart Logistics. This mechanism will enable real-time monitoring of inventory that has been distributed to the market as well as the visualization of its shipping and storage status. It will make it possible to prevent maldistribution of drugs due to market adjustments in supply and demand, as well as to ensure more accurate traceability. And it will help not only to reduce pharmaceutical waste but also to curtail CO2 emissions incurred by shipping, in addition to contributing to reducing the social costs of pharmaceutical distribution.

Since 2017, we have been deploying Cubixx, a specialty drug traceability system. This system uses RFID, which reads and writes data through IC tags, and dedicated storage cabinets equipped with IoT technology to enable 24/7 real-time remote monitoring of pharmaceutical management conditions, from the drugs’ transit to hospital storage, as well as the reverse distribution of returned items and their re-delivery. We have expanded our lineup thus far to include a hospital version, pharmacy version, clinical-trial version, home-use version,large-size version, and room-temperature version. Monitoring pharmaceutical transit and storage conditions makes it possible to make resale decisions and ascertain inventory conditions, and it contributes to reducing pharmaceutical waste and preventing maldistribution of nventory. It also enables automated ordering and allows automation of things like proposals to refresh non-moving inventory or unused inventory, which helps to reduce the workload on medical institutions.

We are constructing the industry’s first integrated distribution complex, the Greater Tokyo Distribution Center, in Soka City, Saitama Prefecture, with the aim of starting operations in April 2024. It will utilize cutting-edge robotics and image recognition technology to automate tasks such as data input, stocktaking, and onsite conveyance, facilitating a reduction in manpower. On the other hand, packaging and other delicate tasks will be performed by hand, with the goal of highly accurate pharmaceutical distribution. The center will feature both a manufacturer distribution area and a contract manufacturing area for our partner BushuPharmaceuticals Ltd., enabling contracting at all steps from manufacturing to distribution. We anticipate that this will minimize product movement, shorten delivery times, and reduce inventory amount due to the center’s inventory being concentrated in one place, and we also expect to see a reduction in shipping and delivery costs and the environmental burden. Moving forward, by using the center, we will share storage space and engage in joint delivery with other wholesalers in the same industry and with businesses from different industries, in an effort to shorten the supply chain.