The Unbreakable Chain

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Many of the most important life sciences and pharmaceutical firms rely on Cold Chain Technologies. Here’s why.

When it comes to developing capabilities for cold chain management within the life sciences sector, some of the most important players in the space choose Cold Chain Technologies (CCT).

Nicholas Tassone

“One of our core capabilities is the design of thermal assurance packaging for the transport of vaccines, biologics, drugs and pharmaceuticals, which all require special condition monitoring,” said Nicholas Tassone, the company’s Senior Director of Global Supply Chain. When the pandemic arrived, that expertise put CCT in the ideal position to become a major partner in the global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

Founded in 1967 to support the temperature-sensitive shipping industry in protecting its critical product loads, the Franklin, Massachusetts-based firm has evolved into an industry leader, providing the most effective, efficient, and easy-to-use custom and off-the-shelf thermal packaging solutions. The company combines supply chain resilience, circular economy, and smart technology to create sustainable cold chains.

When Tassone joined the firm several years before the pandemic, CCT had been experiencing robust year-over-year growth. He undertook risk assessments and determined that dual sourcing was key to eliminating future obstacles that could impede their ongoing growth goals. “Fortunately, in the years prior to COVID we had dual-sourced and pre-qualified many new suppliers,” he revealed. Along with the growth of their existing supply chain partners, dual sourcing was a notable advantage in supporting vaccine distribution.

“We proactively found alternate suppliers and had spent many weeks overseas trying to work on alternate supply bases,” Tassone said.

Operation Warp Speed disrupted the supply chain dynamics overnight, but CCT’s strong supplier base and great working relationships enabled them to flex with their supply chain partners to quickly react to the overwhelming demand for materials. For example, when high demand maxed out their production capabilities, the partnerships – in tandem with solid teamwork and a manufacturing staff that worked endless hours – pulled them through the challenge.

“Several large customers of equipment gave us their spots in the manufacturing queue,” he said. One placed orders for equipment that had a 20-week lead time that was needed in less than six weeks. “They allowed us to take the equipment they had on order for 14 weeks. Again, some very amazing teamwork helped us all come together to succeed.”

The industry veteran, who has spent 25 years in the business, leverages a philosophy of helpful candor and transparency. “I believe in never over- or under-committing,” he pointed out. “Supplying accurate forecasts and informing what and when products we need has really helped us become very successful and has helped the organizations that have been with us to have great success as well.”

That honesty allows their suppliers to understand actual annual requirements rather than inflated numbers, which in turn enables them to provide CCT with their best pricing up front. “I have regular meetings with our suppliers to let them know what the short- and long-term forecast is, which gives them the ability to ramp up or down as needed,” he said. At the height of the pandemic, those very close affiliations helped them navigate through the increasing demand for their products.

"CCT has a great core value policy, we focus heavily on integrity and initiative, with teamwork being the biggest driver of the organization,” he said. “Together with all of our partners, our internal teams, and both customers and suppliers, we are all focused on shared success.”

In Tassone’s view, one of the pandemic’s greatest lessons is to ensure the diversity of the supply base. “Make sure that you know there are other options,” he stressed, adding that this strategy proved its value during the crisis.

Working to stop global warming cold

The company is passionate about its mission to protect the planet, its partners, and global health through social and environmental change. They take a circular economy approach to decarbonizing their products and services, exchanging the typical cycle of make, use, and dispose with as much material reuse and recycling as possible.

Extending the life of products and materials prevents the overgeneration of waste and their extensive single-use sustainable and reusable offerings help customers reduce their CO2 emissions, avoid landfills, and slim their carbon footprints.

Naturally, CCT’s supply chain strategies and methods are impacted by the strategy.

CCT works with several key suppliers that are focused on recyclability and biodegradable production materials. “Along with our suppliers, we’re focused on re-engineering single use products to aid us in our goal of reducing 60 million pounds of landfill waste by 2025. Our company’s interim milestone of reducing 25 million pounds of landfill waste by the end 2023 was recently surpassed in October 2022 with 30 million pounds,” Tassone explained.

CCT and many of their suppliers are members of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC), a membership-based collaborative that leverages the power of industry to make packaging more sustainable. “As the leading voice on sustainable packaging, they are passionate about creating packaging that is good for people and the environment,” he added.

SPC’s mission is to bring sustainable packaging stakeholders together to catalyze actionable improvements to packaging systems and lend an authoritative voice on issues related to packaging sustainability. “Along with that we’re working with several large, recycled material manufacturers to develop a coalition directly focused on the life science industry.”

Supply chain issues were at top of mind for many years before the advent of COVID-19 and its legacy of complications. When the global health crisis upended business as usual, the need for truly effective supply chain management became paramount. “Since 2020, the industry has spiked, revealing the difficulties caused by a lack of communication,” he emphasized, adding that regardless of advances in technology and processes, a successful supply chain is ultimately built and maintained on supplier relationships, in the never-ending pursuit of common objectives.

Tassone sums up CCT’s dedication to collaboration this way: “We believe in showing respect, being honest, and continuously letting our partners and their workforces know how much we appreciate them and the long hours they must put in from time to time to guarantee all-around success.” One thing is certain: With such a powerful commitment to excellence and mutual business gains, there’s no breaking the Cold Chain.