MODsense has been developed with the following goals:

To be a powerful but affordable way to extract valuable supply chain data for business process automation and optimization.

To be an effective and efficient shipment deviation management tool for quality managers.

To reduce the efforts required to demonstrate GDP compliance in audits.

To minimize handling time per shipment for any involved stakeholders.

To simplify setup and integration efforts through a step-wise process that considers existing logistics processes and IT systems.

To achieve this, MODsense consists of three components that users can interface with directly: a physical data logger that measures and records temperature, a web application to setup and manage shipment monitoring, and different applications to interact with the temperature logger and to pair it with shipment IDs, using for example a scanning device. The design of these three components contributes directly to MODsense’s efficacy as a monitoring solution and its ability to meet customer demands.

The Data Logger

The MODsense data logger is waterproof, tamper-evident, reusable, and qualified for the monitoring of pharmaceutical products. Most importantly it was designed for simplicity. It is equipped with two wireless interfaces: near field communication (NFC) allows for the quick pairing of loggers with shipments at high volumes, with minimal impact on existing warehousing processes; bluetooth low energy (BLE) allows it to easily read out data from the logger at delivery without opening the parcel or even knowing that a data logger is inside. The data logger has a very simple user interface with just one button to activate and check its status and three LED lights indicating whether it is recording, whether a temperature alarm was triggered, and whether the device is working properly. In order to facilitate an effective return process, it has been designed with casing flat enough to be sent as regular letter mail.

The MODsense Dashboard

MODsense features a web application that is referred to as the Dashboard. The web app is the most valuable component of the solution because it is where set-up, automation, control, and analysis happen.

Our solution experience begins with general setup and shipment profile setup. In a shipment profile a qualified person, overseeing temperature monitoring for a distributor, can set all logger parameters and alarms that apply for a specific type of shipments. They can adjust settings for alarm criteria, measurement characteristics, and notification recipients, allowing each type of shipment to be monitored to the specific quality standards of their organization. By defining these shipment profiles in advance, MODsense does not require that each data logger be programmed before it is paired with a shipment. Instead, only the applicable shipment profile needs to be selected by the person packaging a specific shipment. The Dashboard allows a qualified person to set up multiple shipment profiles for all of their shipment types and instruct the staff in the warehouse which profile needs to be applied to which shipment. The benefit of this feature is that MODsense is scalable to any number of shipments. While conventional data logger solutions were difficult to integrate at scale because of individual programming requirements, MODsense data loggers can be activated quickly without encumbering existing logistics processes.

After sending shipments, the dashboard screen will be the first and most commonly viewed screen for tracking shipment states and deviations that may have occurred. The dashboard screen, in combination with the immediate alarm notifications via SMS or email after a data logger has been read out, is one of the most beneficial features, providing immediate feedback after a shipment has been delivered. It is designed to be a simple overview of action items for quality assurance teams. Whether it is temperature excursions that need approval or significant shipment delays, the dashboard makes it easy for a user to detect deviations and resolve them.

Shipments that have been received successfully with no temperature deviations, will not appear in the dashboard. However, all shipments can be viewed chronologically in the shipments list. From the shipment list, by clicking on any shipment ID, a detailed shipment overview can be accessed. The shipment detail page has been designed with extensive feedback from pilot customers showing shipment information, alarm criteria, measurement results, and analytics. The overview page also includes a change and comments log, that tracks approvals, actions items and internal messages, so that entire teams can manage shipments in a coordinated fashion. Finally, the Dashboard also allows reports to be generated in various formats for the purposes of fulfilling mandatory records and demonstrating compliancy with regulations in the case of an audit. A user can select the shipments and which corresponding shipment information that they would like to include in the report to customize output depending on their needs.

Interacting with the Data Logger

Starting the MODsense data loggers and their readout can happen in several ways. The easiest way is to use our Android-based mobile application. The mobile app is very lean and focuses on serving those who want to get to know MODsense in a flexible way. It allows for pairing and readout using quick and reliable barcode scanning via a smartphone camera.

Those who want to integrate our solution into their commissioning process can use our commissioning app that supports NFC pairing pads as well as standard handheld scanning devices. This app is designed for a very quick workflow, enabling the person commissioning the shipment to activate loggers simply based on two barcode scans: first, scanning the shipment ID and, second, scanning the shipment profile barcode associated with the shipment type that transfers all relevant parameters to the logger.

In the same step, the application checks the battery status and expiry date of the data logger and registers the shipment in a smart contract.

Nominated for Digital Innovation of the Year and Swiss Logistics Award

We are thrilled to announce that our first solution has been nominated for Digital Innovation of the Year at the Digital Economy Awards in Switzerland. The award categories include “Digital Innovation of the Year” and “Digital Transformation” among others and celebrate innovation and progress digital projects and businesses. We are very honoured for MODsense to be nominated in the months leading up to our official commercial launch. The winners will be announced on November 21, 2018 at an awards show in Hallenstadion in Zurich.

We are also honoured to be a finalist for the 2018 Swiss Logistics Award. On the 28th of November the prize to honour this year’s biggest innovation in logistics will be awarded by GS1 Switzerland. Four of the six nominations this year come from the health-care sector; we are proud to be in such good company.

We are eager to hear the outcome of each award, and even more excited at the prospect of launching a product that is a winner of two awards in its first month on the market.

Where we are this month

This month we have kept up a busy schedule of events and partner activities. We have presented to Roche alongside SAP in their intelligent enterprise truck. This week we are in Singapore at the Intelligent Supply Chain Asia conference and also presenting at a Blockchain Event hosted by the British Swiss Chamber of Commerce. In November, we will be at SAP Select in Barcelona and the SAP Enterprise Blockchain Symposium in Berlin. We will also return to Asia for the 2018 Cold Chain Show in Bangkok. Please visit our events page to see a full list of our events.

Moving Forward

Next month, MODsense will become commercially available beyond select partners. We are excited to see it deployed in new environments, enabling a variety of customers to benefit from the value created by temperature monitoring with Modum. An additional benefit of leveraging a blockchain backend, which provides data integrity for our customers, is that we have the ability to update components frequently and add features quickly. As soon as MODsense is released, the team will have already begun developing additional features to enable more use cases.

The commercial availability of MODsense will bring Modum one step closer to fulfilling our vision of providing solutions that improve organizational intelligence through widespread access to supply chain data for our customers. We are eager to continue to share more information with potential customers regarding MODsense’s features and advantages and we look forward to fielding more product related questions from you on any of our channels. Most importantly, we look forward to hearing from potential customers that have a need or a use case for MODsense within your organization. If you know any one who might be interested please get in touch!

— Simon Dössegger

October 30, 2018

Images: Copyright Modum. Design and specifications subject to change.