Panalpina units to go live with Validaide supply chain platform in early 2018

Panalpina says that all of its remaining business units are scheduled to go live with the Validaide platform by the end of the first quarter of 2018. The airfreight shipment-focused tool qualifies suppliers and assesses transport route risks, and shares that data with producers of medicinal products so that they can assess the capabilities of their logistics suppliers.

Panalpina is the launch customer of Amsterdam- based Validaide, which has created a digital tool that enables producers of medicinal products to assess the capabilities of their logistics suppliers – a requirement of the European Union’s updated Good Distribution Practice (GDP) guidelines. After merging data from the suppliers with hundreds of transport routes assessed by Panalpina’s experts, Panalpina said that the platform provided customers with “very high supply chain transparency at their fingertips.”

“Validaide is an open platform with a unique community approach,” explains Eelco de Jong, co-founder and managing director of Validaide. “The community members on the platform – for example airlines, ground handling agents and trucking companies – can showcase their capabilities to existing and potential customers, meaning third-party logistics providers, such as Panalpina.” de Jong added that suppliers were responsible for their data, and could decide with whom they want to share it.

“Our customers, especially healthcare customers, trust us to work with qualified suppliers in order to assess risk in the supply chain,” said Markus Muecke, global head of airfreight procurement and product management at Panalpina. “Validaide makes the process of qualifying suppliers and identifying risk along transport routes more efficient, dynamic and transparent.”

Validaide and Panalpina worked closely together to build a secure online platform with standardized checklists and electronic workflow that “make supplier qualification more efficient and reliable,” Panalpina said. Panalpina said it hopes to use the new platform to induce airlines and other suppliers to submit their data.