Hence all our service centers are fully operational and offer an annual capacity of 22’000 pallets. With the help and flexibility of reliable partners and our globally accessible operating system, we can guarantee the worldwide availability of containersto meet your requirements and make all of your shipments happen.
March 25, 2020
Supply Chain Resilience during COVID-19 Pandemic
SkyCell is proud to let you know that even during the restrictions put in place due to COVID-19, 100% of our deliveries of the last four weeks were on time. We are aware that even minor disruptions can cause delays in delivering life-saving drugs to patients and potential financial losses. We would like to highlight the measures SkyCell has taken to maintain a high level of performance during the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring your supply chains’ resilience.
Quality remains our priority
As part of our development plan, SkyCell has invested heavily in its supply chain and fleet expansion in recent months. In anticipation of the pandemic, all of our global service centers have been stocked with the maximum number of containers.
A further valuable feature is that SkyCell containers can be used for door-to-door deliveries without cumbersome unloading of the containers at the airport, thus enabling a seamless cold chain. In times of uncertainty, communication is key. We are in constant contact with the various teams, clients, service centers, and partners. This ensures that we can react quickly if any issues arise.
Simon Giger, Head of Operations
Crises such as the current COVID-19 leave no room for mistakes. We put all our energy in offering a reliable service and high quality even during challenging times.
We are proud to have delivered all shipments on time and in perfect condition. These facts sum up the last four weeks:
- 100% of our deliveries were on time
- No container cancellations due to container shortages
- Even urgent weekend deliveries were possible
If you have urgent business, we will ensure that the containers will be at your door within 72 hours of order placement. Further, our SkyCell client service team is happy to support you on all matters.
Early digitalization pays off
From the very beginning, SkyCell has been a highly technology-driven company and has built a solid IT backbone. Our redundant IT infrastructure and our blockchain-encrypted data cloud ensure the integrity and constant access to our data and systems. Further, SkyCell’s software solutions have been created to work on a highly automated basis. Our automatic alarm system will notify our operations team in case a shipment’s milestone has not been met, in order to trigger the intervention by the relevant local party.
Since 2013, we collected over 850 million real-life data points of our shipments. Based on this data we can simulate any given lane with the SkyCell Transport Planner. This tool enables our clients to simulate different scenarios and do a risk assessment before executing an actual shipment.
Your benefit:
If you are planning a delivery to Sydney, which in the best case would go via Hong Kong, you can create a backup scenario with a lane going via Dubai. If the flights via Hong Kong are now canceled, you have already prepared your plan B and are ready to start with its implementation.
Reliability is key
Imagine a pharma container that works in any environmental condition and can recharge at any airport without depending on electricity. This is exactly what SkyCell created and is extremely valuable when switching to charter services or military aircrafts. All you have to do is place our hybrid container in a cooling chamber or reefer truck and it will recharge automatically without having to be opened. Our clients consider this feature especially useful when the container stays longer at the airport than expected.
For the second year in a row, SkyCell underwent an independent audit* by a leading auditing company with outstanding results of 0% product loss and less than 0.1% deviation in temperature over a 12-month period. In addition, SkyCell has just been GDP and ISO:9001:2015 re-certified, which enables a fast qualification and is the foundation of our quality management system.
Switching to home office
In 2017, SkyCell prepared a contingency plan for the case that the entire organization had to work remotely, including systems, but above all processes that enabled decentralized work. In an attempt to minimize the impact of the COVID-19 virus on the SkyCell operations, all employees have been asked to work from home from 13th March onwards. SkyCell was able to make this switch seamlessly, as this was foreseen and planned in the emergency procedures that were now being tested in practice – successfully.
The team is operating well and effectively. Daily catch-ups and regular remote team meetings maintain the excellent communication level as well as the team spirit.