Real-time temperature monitoring for pharmaceuticals

A system for the pharmaceutical industry which enables the real-time monitoring of product shipment temperatures throughout an extended supply chain using RFID sensors has been developed by DHL in partnership with Microlise and AeroScout.

The system helps customers better meet temperature compliance regulations set within the pharmaceutical industry. Full real-time visibility of the location and temperature of the pharmaceutical shipments throughout the supply chain is made possible through a web browser linked to the Microlise Transport Management Centre (TMC) software.

The TMC enables real-time tracking of the vehicle position along with the temperature indication from the Wi-Fi-based AeroScout Active RFID tags which are used to monitor the shipments.

The system has been installed inside trailers from Mueller Transporte, a Vienna-based company that specialises in temperature controlled transportation. It is used to transport BioScience products, which need to be stored at between 2 and 8°C. The first lane to test the system is from Belgium to DHL's 3PL warehouse in Sweden.