How a Global Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Company Continues to Save Millions on Fuel Recovery

Hear how a global healthcare and pharmaceutical company introduced a Fuel Recovery program in 2015 to achieve initial savings.

Managing the supply chain logistics of a large pharmaceutical company is a complicated task. Research shows the volume of the worldwide pharmaceutical market has more than doubled in the last decade and that supply chain visibility is one of the biggest issues in the industry.

That’s why a global healthcare and pharmaceutical company turned to Breakthrough in 2015 for a more transparent way to manage the fuel needed to transport its products.

Better Visibility to Capture Fuel Savings

After forming a partnership with Breakthrough, the company achieved an annual fuel cost savings of $1.58 million, representing a 34% reduction of fuel costs in the first year of the company's Fuel Recovery program.

Breakthrough's data-driven approach to fuel reimbursements created a new level of network visibility and load-level movement details that allowed the organization to make strategic decisions for future network improvements. And while this strategy was initiated in 2015, the value has endured to present day and has created continuous improvements in the client's strategy.

Thinking Beyond the RFP to Create Change

In order to generate immediate savings, the pharmaceutical company decided to implement Breakthrough Fuel Recovery as soon as possible, rather than waiting for an RFP event to onboard their carriers.

The team at Breakthrough developed a custom implementation plan for the client, outlining the details of their Fuel Recovery program and creating a robust onboarding strategy. Carriers received clear and defined program parameters and training before the program launched. Since 98% of the company’s freight mileage was already being moved by carriers who were working with Breakthrough, the transition to the new program was smooth.

The division of the company introduced during the initial implementation phase used LEAN Logistics (now BluJay Solutions) as a data provider. Breakthrough had a strong, pre-existing relationship with LEAN Logistics, making integration seamless easy connectivity between the two partners. While this was a convenient reality for the pharmaceutical shipper, Breakthrough is compatible with any technology system on the market and customizes their data flow to cater to any existing process a shipper may subscribe to. This technology agnostic mentality made the client’s integration of additional business units straightforward and simple.

Laying the Groundwork for Ongoing Value

While the first year of the Breakthrough Fuel Recovery program helped this client reduce their fuel costs by 34%, that was only the beginning of a beneficial partnership.

The healthcare and pharmaceutical company now has greater visibility into the efficiency of the transportation segment in its supply chain. This additional visibility continues today, translating into $3.47 million in cost avoidance in 2020.

Thanks to data and actionable insights from Breakthrough, they have employed continuous improvements initiatives like bringing on additional divisions and modes, and making MPG changes that have translated to additional savings while also reducing their consumption and emissions, and other optimizations.

Breakthrough creates groundbreaking energy management strategies to remove distortion and improve transparency for shippers. Rather than paying the distorted fuel surcharge dictated by the DOE Index, our solution ensures you pay for diesel fuel based on actuals, not averages.

No matter the industry, Breakthrough can provide real-time fuel price data while advising your organization on effective fuel management strategies. Reach out to Breakthrough today.