Get insights from key healthcare logistics leaders in Asia Pacific gathered from our 2021 DHL APAC Life Sciences and Healthcare Logistics Board.
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Between the pandemic and rising direct-to-patient demand, healthcare logistics is set to radically transform.
How are you adapting your supply chain strategies to this new reality? What are the challenges you must overcome?
You are not alone in your concerns — 25% of our Life Sciences & Healthcare customers surveyed voted for direct-to-patient, placing this second on the list just below supply chain and network changes post-COVID.
Like 29% of our panel of logistics leaders, supply chain and network changes post-COVID is highest on the list of logistics concerns—closely followed by the relevance of direct-to-consumer.
13% of our panel of logistics leaders share your concern, and have been looking towards diversifying their supplier base, building redundancies, and maintaining inventory buffers to bolster their supply chain resilience1.
With 71% of the healthcare sector’s greenhouse emissions coming from its supply chain, sustainability is a key issue2— which is why 13% of our panel of logistics leaders are actively exploring initiatives such as reusable packaging and greener warehouses.
Understanding the future of the supply chain workforce is key to resilience and optimization—and 19% of our panel of logistics leaders agree with you. Moving forward, we can expect the adoption of AI and automation technologies to drive efficiencies and foster digitalization in healthcare logistics3 , 4.
#1 on our panel of logistics leaders’ list of challenges, demand fluctuation is creating problems throughout the supply chain, from production to inventory holding costs—highlighting a need for digitalization to improve demand forecast accuracy.
With the transport industry yet to recover from the COVID disruption, logistics bottlenecks remain a key supply chain challenge—one that our panel of logistics leaders are solving creatively, with solutions ranging from multi-modal freight or rail.
While not much can be done about the container pricing and shortage trend, some of its effects can be mitigated through weekly freight allocations to lock in rates, and contacting carriers and freight forwarders to allocate empty containers.
In the wake of the pandemic, many in our panel of logistics leaders are finding the need to redesign their supply chain network, setting up alternative sources and regional hubs to improve lead time, quicken speed to market, and reduce their holding inventory.
Patients are getting more knowledgeable, with some in our panel of logistics leaders citing the need to work towards meeting customer expectations as the sector moves towards personalized healthcare and advanced treatments such as cell and gene therapy.
With container rates increasing up to 4X, our panel of logistics leaders are responding by moving stock to regional distribution centers and relocating their sourcing to Asia to mitigate these cost pressures.
Many in our panel of logistics leaders are facing challenges from governments wanting to control products and price, and promoting local products by controlling imports.
eCommerce is expected to accelerate but consumers are more used to one-stop shops, which is creating a challenge for some of the logistics leaders in our panel due to the lack of a centralised order management system.
The majority of our panel of logistics leaders are bullish on the growth of direct-to-patient/market distribution, but they will need to first overcome difficulties with regulations and end-to-end cold chain capabilities to capture this opportunity.
Get ready for some competition—as a fast-developing market, South-East Asia is on top of the list for nearly all of the logistics leaders in our panel in considering direct-to-patient distribution
You won’t be alone, with approximately half of our panel of logistics leaders considering Oceania a relevant and mature market for their direct-to-patient aspirations.
Just under 20% of our panel of logistics leaders consider the South Asia market relevant to their direct-to-patient plans, due to its still-developing economy and the difficulties of distributing products over such a large geographical area.
Because of the size and complexity of the North Asia market, our panel of logistics leaders have largely chosen to prioritize other regions for their direct-to-patient distribution plans.
3/4 of our panel of logistics leaders expect direct-to-patient to make up over 20% of their business in 5 years’ time, a strong showing of confidence in these new distribution channels.
Opinions on the relevance of direct-to-patient turned out to be deeply polarized, with our panel of logistics leaders expecting either over 20%, or under 5%—with none in between.
Unlike the majority of our panel, the remaining quarter sit on the opposite side of the fence, believing that the inherent challenges of direct-to-patient cannot be overcome. Thankfully, 3PL leaders like DHL have already developed innovative solutions specifically to solve these challenges.
