The products in the healthcare industry must be of the highest quality and standards. This quality control is to be maintained right from the supply chain. Having the right team of experts to regulate this facility is essential.
18 Wheels Warehousing and Trucking Limited provide a wide range of services to fulfill the needs of pharmaceutical companies. The company’s top goal remains to get the product in the hands of customers in a top-notch quality. Committed to maintaining these quality standards, its Chief Operating Officer, Michael Kotendzhi, has catered to serving its clients by providing innovative equipment and skilled experts.
In an interview with Insights Care, Michael shared facts about the company highlighting its prominent marks and uniqueness in the supply chain management industry.
Please brief our audience about your company. Kindly tell us the source of inspiration for starting the healthcare supply chain management company.
The 18 Wheels story may have begun over 30+ years ago, but we are just getting started; because of our amazing people, systematic infrastructure, and segment specialization, there is a lot of exciting and enormous potential for additional value creation for years to come.
We pride ourselves on being distribution experts, specializing in co-packing, e-commerce fulfillment, warehousing, and transportation. Our customer base is comprised of some of the world’s leading companies, representing a vast array of industries and commodities.
We are now a leading supply chain company for the health care industry with over 20 per cent of our business dedicated to it. We wanted to focus on sustainable industries that help our communities.
Tell us more about the products and services that make your company stand out from
the competition.
Warehousing and distribution are some of the core services that we offer here at 18 Wheels Warehousing and Trucking. Currently, we have over 850,000 square feet of highly secured third-party logistics warehousing space in Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, and Washington. Our years of experience and seasoned team allow us to cut costs, improve performance, optimize our warehouses, and free up capital for our clients.
Our 3PL distribution company and transportation operations are based in Vancouver, but we service throughout North America. 18 Wheels can accommodate a variety of transportation needs, such as temperature-controlled shipping, dry-controlled shipping, LTL services, FTL services, over the road, and rail services. Additionally, we service all the dry and wet ports of Vancouver, BC including Deltaport, Centerm, Vanterm, CP Rail, and CN Rail.
As dedicated warehouse and distribution experts at 18 Wheels, we are committed to excellence and efficiency. We make sure to perform a thorough analysis of the customer’s supply chain to fully understand their business, products, and needs. Our goal is to create a competitive advantage for our partners and provide solutions in all transactions that include transportation, distribution, and warehouse services with respect to:
- Distribution of key medical products throughout Canada
- Inventory control of medical products
- Transportation service end to end (fully traceable and trackable)
What is your opinion on the necessity for healthcare supply chain management companies to align their offerings with the latest technological advances, especially when it comes to catering to ever-evolving healthcare needs?
At 18 Wheels Logistics, our vision is to “Build enduring relationships by delivering integrated solutions with passion and innovation!”
We are Canada’s preferred provider of ambient and temperature-controlled transportation and distribution.
18 Wheels is now HACCP certified, which is the international standard for effective control of food safety. This ensures that 18 Wheels follows the proper procedures and protocols to make food consumption safe.
18 Wheels Logistics, Distribution Warehouse Facilities use “smart facilities infrastructure:”
- WIFI access enables us to download scanner information eliminating any wait time – data is instantly available, allowing us to expedite our delivery schedule.
- Vehicle temperatures are displayed in the dispatch area before loading to help prevent temperature excursions.
- Our facilities are temperature-controlled and monitored on a 24/7 basis.
In your opinion, what could be the future of the healthcare supply chain management industry post-pandemic? And how are you strategizing your company’s operations for the future?
We owe it to our customers, the public, and ourselves to take a step back and re-evaluate how the whole sector – from healthcare systems to distributors to manufacturers – managed the healthcare supply chain during the pandemic, specifically the initial stages. To only improve for the years to come.
COVID-19 showed a lot of shortcomings, but it also brought out the best in a lot of people. 18 Wheels Logistics worked with a lot of major healthcare organizations and facilitated relationships with smaller organizations to locate alternate suppliers that could provide equipment and even vital supplies.
Transparency and information sharing, both laterally across the industry and vertically from source to point of care, can go a long way toward improving supply chain visibility and efficiency in this business Improve the overall quality of the healthcare supply chain.
At 18 Wheels, we use our specialized technology to provide better, more accurate information to requestors seeking medical supplies and the assurance that what they order is available and can be delivered on time.
To continue these positive changes, we will need to complete the following:
Prioritize local sourcing: The recurrent PPE shortages in 2020 showed vulnerabilities in a worldwide supply chain that had previously prioritized low prices. China and other countries enjoy a significant pricing advantage for these commodities, but the ramifications of putting price before healthcare delivery are now more apparent than ever. Our federal government, as well as the industry, must reconsider sourcing techniques.
Demand forecasting: This is the place with the highest potential. Everyone in the healthcare supply chain must be able to forecast the supplies they will need for clinical care in a variety of circumstances.
COVID-19 precipitated the supply chain crisis in 2020, but any number of other calamities, from a hurricane to a civil or regional conflict in a country where supplies are produced, might equally disrupt medical supply delivery.
What we need to do is create a balance, between the sourcing of key medical goods and using the opportunity for forwarding planning, exchanging information across all industry partners, and improving supply chain efficiency.
Every crisis presents an opportunity, and 18 Wheels is certain that our industry will rise to the occasion with collaboration and dedication.
As an established leader, what would be your advice to the budding entrepreneurs and enthusiasts aspiring to venture into the healthcare supply chain management business?
Focus on learning all you can in Automation; today’s technology is based on a digitalized environment and is the driving force behind a company’s efficiency. It is critical to business process improvement.
Always ensure you have a well-put-together website and a good web designer. Using good business processing software will help you streamline your company. Also, because no manual procedures are used, the firm saves time. Through software, automation makes it simple to organize and manage account and employee information and boosts productivity.
A strong planning structure is essential for any management to succeed. Procurement, storage, and delivery are just a few of the aspects that go into planning. Costs, time, and transportation are all part of the planning process.
How do you envision scaling your company’s services in 2022 and beyond?
There are currently approx. one million square feet of warehousing and distribution space in Canada. I look to grow this to over six million square feet in the next five years. To do this, vast investment in technology is required, and being the first to market is essential but more importantly, being the best in the market.
The Journey of an Adept Leader
Michael Kotendzhi started in the logistics industry in 2010. He graduated from UBC Sauder school of business, specializing in logistics and transportation. He has taught at local colleges including Langara College, with a thesis on logistics and the supply chain industry, how it affects everything we do, and how it keeps the world moving. He has emphasized the focus on the niche in the food and medical industry because it allows us to become the market experts.
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