Special track & trace solution for Asia

In the years ahead, there will be a big increase in the regulations governing the production of pharmaceuticals in the Asia-Pacific region. The Arvato CSDB APAC Edition will enable manufacturers to meet these requirements and protect their products against counterfeit medications and manipulation. This cloud-based track & trace solution is being continuously refined specifically to meet the requirements of pharmaceutical companies in the Asia-Pacific region. The solution combines Körber’s expertise gained from numerous global projects with local services and regional language versions. 

Counterfeit or manipulated medications are endangering the health of many people and causing billions in economic damage every year. That’s why ensuring the safety of medications is becoming a major focus for countries and companies throughout the world, including in the Asia-Pacific region. “Many countries in this region are currently working on regulations for the labeling of medication packaging and for traceability. These regulations will go into force in the next few years,” says Michael Völlinger, Business Director at the Körber Business Area Pharma. As a result, pharmaceutical producers, contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs), and marketing authorization holders (MAHs) should adapt their company processes in good time so that their products will remain marketable in the future. The Arvato CSDB (Corporate Serialization Database), which has been operating for a number of years, is a reliable solution for covering the serialization and track & trace processes in pharmaceutical production. The Körber Business Area Pharma has teamed up with Arvato Systems to offer an edition of this solution that has been specifically adapted to the market requirements of companies in the Asia-Pacific region. “The APAC Edition provides companies with a tried and tested solution in a wide range of local languages and combines it with on-site support from service experts,” says Völlinger.

Developed in Asia-Pacific

The APAC Edition is already available and is being refined further by a development team based in Malaysia. The team is in constant exchange with regional pharmaceutical producers so that it can incorporate their needs and experiences. “In cooperation with our specialists on site, we are adapting the Arvato CSDB solution so that it optimally reflects local requirements and business models,” says Carl-Rainer Stetter, Head of Sales and Business Development Healthcare at Arvato Systems. In this way, the serialization specialists from Körber and Arvato Systems are offering a modular and scalable solution that provides pharmaceutical producers in the Asia-Pacific region with tailored support in their respective development phases. “The fact that we were able to draw on Körber’s extensive expertise gained from more than 1,500 serialization and track & trace projects worldwide will provide future users with a huge amount of added value,” says Stetter.

Regional languages and local services 

One of the biggest advantages of the Arvato CSDB APAC Edition is that it is available in many different regional languages. “It enables users to operate the track & trace solution in their native languages. This makes it very convenient and prevents misunderstandings,” explains Völlinger. More language versions can be added on demand. The solution is integrated into the companies’ processing structures by specialists from Körber who come from the respective countries. “Our local sales and service hubs in the region and the assistance of local partners enable us to provide our customers with responsive service and send them experts who speak their language,” says Michael Völlinger. This provides the customers with optimal support for project planning, for example, as well as for the creation of documentation or the training of their employees. Because the solution is cloud-based software, companies don’t have to acquire any additional IT systems. “The system is accessed completely via a web browser, which also means that it is quickly activated,” says Völlinger. Moreover, the cloud is hosted in Asia so that customers benefit from local cost structures and can rest assured that their data stays in the region.

All track & trace processes covered

The Arvato CSDB APAC Edition encompasses track & trace processes for pharmaceutical production that can be divided into five levels. At levels 1 and 2, every product package is printed with an unique serial number and the relevant batch data. Optionally, several packaging units can be combined by means of an aggregation process. At these levels, companies benefit from the solution’s great flexibility with regard to the integration of serialization hardware. “Körber offers appropriate devices and machines for every level, although we are of course able to simply incorporate individual components as well as entire levels from other suppliers,” says Völlinger. At level 3, the smart software manages serialization, packaging, and aggregation processes from the first two levels and communicates with parallel or supraordinate systems, such as the manufacturing execution system (MES) or the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. At level 4, the serial numbers are generated and centrally administered in a management system. Data exchanges with the outside world take place at level 5. Examples include exchanges with business partners’ systems or with national verification systems. All of the levels are available as modular components and can be easily adapted to the companies’ requirements and their existing system landscapes.

Fast project implementation

“Körber is the ideal partner for bringing the solution to the customer and implementing it there,” says Carl-Rainer Stetter. The consulting specialists have know-how gained from numerous global projects at medium-size enterprises and large companies. One of these customers is the pharmaceutical producer Luye, for which Körber implemented the track & trace solution at the facility in Miesbach, Germany. The expertise of the specialists from Körber also has a positive impact on the project schedule: It takes just under 30 days on average to install the system from the beginning of the integration process to the first use of the track & trace solution in production. The Arvato CSDB APAC Edition allows companies from the Asia-Pacific region to benefit even more from this know-how and enables them to efficiently create or expand their serialization and track & trace processes.

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