Company Profile & Environment

Marathon Distributors is a pharmaceutical and healthcare logistics services provider on the island of Cyprus. With an annual turnover of over $40m, it has a 35-38% market share for its range of activities and employs a workforce of just over 40 people. Its services include warehousing, transportation and distribution and it boasts a state-of-the-art warehouse strategically located on the outskirts of Nicosia (Latsia Industrial Area), just-off the Nicosia-Limassol-Larnaca highway. The warehouse area has a floor space of 2,500m² and a modern cold storage area with a capacity of 70m³. For transportation, it operates its own fleet of 18 vehicles — all temperature controlled and GPS monitored — and they cover 100% of the island. The vehicles deliver to pharmacies, pharmacy depots, physicians, hospitals, clinics and clinical laboratories across the island. Cold chain issues fall under the remit of MD Simone Kapakiotis. Her work covers all aspects for the warehousing and transportation of cold chain products, which are mainly vaccines. The main regulations that the company needs to comply with are the Law on Human Pharmaceuticals 70(I) 2001 and EU guidelines on Good Distribution & Manufacturing Practices. The company faces numerous challenges in the sectors it operates in. Firstly, the Cyprus market is of a relatively small size, which stifles its potential for growth. Also, it is a highly regulated environment, subject to numerous stringent EU guidelines. Lastly, the business itself must manage quite high operating costs and low profit margins. On the plus side however, due to relatively short transportation distances on the island (delivery times are 6 hours at most) and the company’s use of validated cooling containers for the transportation of cold chain products, it never generates any product waste.

Use of Timestrip Indicators

Because of its environment, Marathon uses Timestrip Plus 8°C 8 Hrs (TP065), which monitor temperature breaches above 8°C for periods of up to eight hours. Cold chain issues are of concern during the transportation process. The procedure followed for using Timestrips is that they are placed in all orders containing cold chain products. These indicate to drivers and customers whether a temperature deviation has occurred during transportation. If no deviation occurs, customers receive orders and sign all the relevant documentation. If however a deviation has taken place, these orders are returned to the warehouse and the company sets in motion a deviation procedure that needs to be followed.

The Timestrip Solution

The main reasons the company uses Timestrip TTIs above other approved TTIs are a competitive price, the reliability of the product, an easy order system and speed of delivery. Significant improvement has been noted in these areas since the company began to use Timestrips. The product itself is 50% cheaper than other similar products. Also, delivery times are one day faster and delivery costs are 50% lower than before. Other Benefits Feedback from Marathon’s customers has been very positive and have enhanced its standing with them. They particularly like that Timestrips are easy to use, easy to read and reliable.

Simone Kapakiotis says: “The use of Timestrips adds to our company’s reputation of being professional and reliable.”

Abstract: The World Health Organisation stresses the importance of maintaining the cold chain for temperature sensitive vaccines. Due to the recommendation for rabies vaccines to be stored between 2° and 8° Celsius and the nature of canine mass vaccination projects, cold chain maintenance remains one of the most significant logistical hurdles project managers have to overcome.

Mission Rabies field teams in Malawi evaluated the use of adhesive temperature monitors as an alternative to thermometers in both storage fridges and field cooler boxes during the duration of a 4 week mass vaccination drive in April/May 2016.

Two different Timestrip® temperature monitors were used to alert the teams to the critical temperature thresholds of 0°C and 30°C.  As freezing rapidly damages vaccines, each vaccine box containing 10 vials of 10ml vaccine was marked with a monitor that indicates the immediate crossing of the lower threshold through colour change. As damage from high temperatures is related to both the temperature achieved and the time of exposure, to test for the upper temperature limit each cooler box was equipped with a monitor that showed the crossing of the upper threshold over time.

Of a total of 22 vaccination teams participating in the study, 7 teams reported an exposure of the vaccines to temperatures above 30°C for more than 4 hours and on 9 occasions teams reported a temperature drop to 0°C or below.

These findings highlight the importance of monitoring the temperature during field campaigns, both due to proximity to ice packs and exposure to high outside temperatures. The use of Timestrip temperature indicators gives early visual clues and raises awareness among the team. However practicability of the temperature monitoring must be taken into consideration and adhesive monitors need to be improved with regards to their setup to make them a valuable tool in field projects.

This abstract was presented at the 28th Annual Rabies in The Americas Conference on 23 October 2017.

Authors: Frederic Lohr, Reuben Isbitsky, Andy Gibson, Alasdair King

Tenet Healthcare is a healthcare services company is using Blood Temp 10 temperature indicators to monitor blood transportation. PDC Healthcare surveyed the company on their experience with the indicators. The survey reported the blood bag temperature indicators helped them significantly improve blood transportation quality control and workflow efficiency. The Blood Temp 10 indicators helped Tenet Healthcare comply with regulatory guidance by having auditable proof blood core temperature was maintained when being returned to the blood bank. Read the full case study below:

Tenet Healthcare Blood Transportation Case Study

We are happy to announce our 24 month elapsed time indicator is the newest addition to our stocked elapsed time monitoring indicators.

Now available for ordering.

For users, the Timestrip® 24 month elapsed time indicator offers a convenient visual reminder of service maintenance schedules for household and industrial products. Brands can integrate the indicators directly into consumable products. Customers can then be visually alerted that the products need to be discarded and replaced regularly. Medical devices can be harmful if not routinely replaced. These long time indicators are perfect for visually reminding you how long they have been in service.

Simple activation, clear elapsed time indication

Timestrip® 24 month time indicators are single use and show the total amount of elapsed time since activation — up to 2 years. Our elapsed time indicators are inert until activation. First, press the blister on the back of the indicator to activate. A red activation line appear in the front window. Next, the window will then fill with colour as time passes. During the monitoring period, you will be able to see the colour progress pass each time marker. The colour progression lets you know how long it has been since activation. Timestrip® 24 month has time markers at 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 and 24 months, the indicators have plenty of options for flexible time monitoring uses. Interested in how Timestrip® 24 month elapsed time indicator could work for you? Ready to order? Contact us today. For our full range of short and long elapsed time indicators: see here for elapsed time monitoring indicators

Riverside Health System is a healthcare non profit that is using Blood Temp 10 temperature indicators for blood temperature compliance. PDC Healthcare surveyed the organization on the efficacy of the indicators. Their survey reported the blood bag temperature indicators helped them significantly improve blood transportation quality control and workflow efficiency. In turn, the real time temperature monitoring increased patient safety and quality of care was improved. Read the full case study below:

Riverside Health System Blood Temperature Compliance Case Study

For more information on PDC Healthcare click here. For the full survey on TechValidate click here.

PDC Healthcare surveyed Decatur Memorial Hospital about the benefits of using Blood Temp 10 indicators. Their survey found the blood bag temperature indicators used to measure blood core temperature helped the hospital improve the quality of care and significantly improve blood transportation quality control to comply with the FDA regulatory guidelines. Read the full case study below:

Decatur Memorial Hospital Blood transportation Case Study

For more information on PDC Healthcare click here. For the full survey on TechValidate click here.

Timestrip will be attending the International Association for Food Protection – IAFP - in Tampa, Florida from 9th – 11th July 2017. We will be demonstrating our 3°C Seafood, 5°C, 8°C & 10°C irreversible ascending temperature indicators at the exhibition. We will be at booth 847, please come and get a sample of our Nonreversible Food Temperature Indicators to test and take away with you. Click here for more information. Timestrip temperature monitoring labels make tracking temperature breaches across a multitude of cold chain food industry applications a simple, cost-effective process. In fact, we offer the most cost-effective solution of our type in food standard and food safety monitoring, which is why our technology has already been adopted by a number of innovative businesses. Our precise, efficient, user-friendly temperature indicator labels are helping to ensure effective cold chain management around the world.   Each year, the International Association for Food Protection hosts an Annual Meeting, providing attendees with information on current and emerging food safety issues, the latest science, innovative solutions to new and recurring problems, and the opportunity to network with thousands of food safety professionals from around the globe. Held in various locations throughout North America, this meeting has grown over the years to become the leading food safety conference worldwide.

Time and Temperature Indicator maker Timestrip launches the Timestrip® Temperature app, a new tool that provides a visual audit trail of its temperature products.

Frame Zoom Focus Snap

  Using the App simply involves taking a photo of a Timestrip® label with a smartphone. If the Timestrip® has a new style serial number, the App will recognise the serial number and allow you to register it on the system. You can then take a follow on scan where you can enter its activation state (inert, activated or breached), storing this data with essential time and location information in the cloud. If the Timestrip® has an old style serial number you can still use the app in the same way but you'll need to manually enter the serial number. The App is free to download from the Google Play store with an iOS version to follow shortly. High tech low cost The App is the latest innovation from Timestrip, which revolutionised the field of cold chain management with its unique Irreversible Time and Temperature Indicator labels (TTIs). Recognised by the World Health Organisation and the US FDA as an essential tool for the cold chain management of blood and food products, TTIs provide data as to whether a blood or food product is safe to use. Timestrip’s irreversible TTIs make this crucial safety information unambiguous and instantly visible. Like having a hundred permanent digital data loggers The main benefit of Timestrip’s irreversible TTI labels is that they give essential cold chain management information on individual units of processed products. This deals with the main shortcoming of digital data loggers, which are mostly used for containers of transported and stored products. Thanks to the new Timestrip® App, extra key information around cold chain management is added with the safe storage of status, time, journey and location data, which can be accessed at any time via the app or via a website. A digital data logger can be lost or damaged and all its data can be wiped clean. The Timestrip® App however safely stores this data in the Cloud. Data logger functionality at a fraction of the price Timestrip UK CEO Reuben Isbitsky says: "I am very excited about our first App, which brings Timestrip TTI labels very close to data logger functionality, at a fraction of the price.  While a key benefit of Timestrip products is that they do not need external infrastructure to read and interpret, using the optional Timestrip Temperature App to scan them, adds enhanced functionality, easy audit trail and provides the customer with a permanent record of the history of the product’s journey."

The Timestrip team regularly gets feedback from clients across the world about the value that its range of Irreversible Time and Temperature Indicators brings to making production processes safer and more secure.

So in a world which normally deals with the critical issues of health and food safety, the mood in the office has been lightened with news from south-east Asia of a novel use of its 7 Days Time Indicator.

On a building site in Japan, new recruits on a construction site undergo a seven-day training programme and have a Timestrip 7 Days Time Indicator on their security helmets. Thus, when the window on the tag is completely filled with colour, site managers know that the beginners have completed their induction programme.

 

This strategy is particularly useful when starters begin their seven-day training programme on different days, because access to specific parts of the construction site or the handling of a particular piece of machinery can only occur once the required training linked to a related day has taken place.

Until now the benefits of Timestrips have been closely aligned with the needs of food safety and securing various cold management processes for blood products as well as the Pharmaceutical, Healthcare & Life Sciences industries. This ingenious use of Timestrip 7 Days Time Indicator points to a new benefit: Health & Safety related to required training. Is your company using their Timestrips in an unusual way? If so, please contact us. We would love to hear from you.

Timestrip UK Ltd have expanded their range to include their latest Timestrip PLUS™ 10°C threshold indicator with a 7-day run-out/recording window. This specific indicator is meeting the demand within the pharmaceutical industry and the regulations and compliance that come with transportation and storage. With Timestrip’s latest 10° 7 day offering, they are reaching out further within the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare industry and ensuring their high tech but low cost devices are evolving with the relevant advances in the industries. Timestrip design and manufacture innovative, irreversible time and temperature indicators for a range of industries from Food to Pharmaceutical. Their Timestrip® PLUS range is predominantly used across the Healthcare, Life sciences and Pharmaceutical arena. Currently, the Timestrip PLUS™ range covers temperature thresholds from -20°C up to 38°C and generally display a run-out window of any temperature breach for 8, 12 or 48 hours. Combining time & temperature monitoring patented technology, which involves controlled rate lateral diffusion of liquids through the device membrane once activated. If a breach occurs, the ‘smart’ indicators will visually indicate how long a product has been exposed to higher temperatures. For a free sample of the new 10° 7 day indicator, or to place an order click here