Roads and acronyms
CAF, FEU, UCP, PER, REQ – there are a lot of acronyms in the shipping jargon to bore you with. Today we would like to tell you about just one of them: the one we are most proud of. The GDP Certificate took us a few really hard working years to acquire. Why did we care so much about this particular document?
Good Distribution Practices (GDP)
Good Distribution Practices, which GDP stands for, is simply a collection of norms, habits and workplace practices that qualify a shipping company to provide its services to the farmaceutical industry and take care of the logistics of clinical trials. Perhaps this is not your area of expertise or even part of your business, but we are more than sure that the knowledge we gained and the standards we have incorporated during the certification will greatly help you and your company.
A history of good practices
Some elements of GDP have been a part of our corporate identity for years – we simply introduced them as a rational way of growing our business. The actual certification process started in 2016, when the Risk Management in Transport plan was introduced in TJ Logistic. It is one of the fundamental elements of the GDP Certificate.
Two years later we started collaborating with SGS, a certifying company, and within a year we were ready for the first inspection audit, which took place in early 2019. Two months later we went through the main certifying audit and after implementing a few adjustments we have achieved GDP Certification in April of 2019. We have spent countless hours on preparatory work, finessing the details and introducing new procedures. New habits were forged and we have gained new knowledge and new possibilities, which we began to diligently use in our everyday work, even outside of the pharmaceutical and clinical branch.
No risk, no fun?
At the base of GDP lies the scary-sounding „risk management”. A Risk Management Plan was implemented in the process of certification and its main goal is go guarantee that every risk related to a particular project or assignment is unambiiguously defined, thoroughly analized and well documented. The Plan also shows that we are fully monitoring, controlling and preventing any problems and risks that are involved in our line of work.
Translating this from the certification language into plain English, the goal of risk management is to prepare for potential threats so well, that they no longer pose a real problem and that the professional, safe and timely execution of our tasks is always guaranteed.
One certificate, many needs
GDP is not strictly limited to transporting medicine or pharmaceuticals – it pertains to the transporting of all goods that require a specific, controlled temperature during shipping. It is also a collection of exorbitant norms and standards regarding the training of personnel, documentaion, insurance procedures, complaints management, as well as internal reviews and fleet management.
We can proudly say that the above norms and standards have been adapted by other divisions of our company, as a way of increasing the quality of services we provide. We apply the GDP procedures all accross the Shipping Department so that each of our Customers and business partners can feel the benefits – even if they don’t operate in the pharmaceutical business.
A certified future
Acquiring the certificate is not a goal on its own – our mission is to keep the higher standards and still push forward and upward. We are currently preprating for a re-certifying audit in 2022, which will extend our certificate for another three years.
We see a bright future ahead of us and we have clear goals for the coming years. GDP is one of the main pillars of our growth as TJ Logistic. Not only do we keep up with the ever-changing world, but we try to anticipate the needs and expectations of our Customers. We already know that the upcoming year will be filled with hard work, exciting experiences and new knowledge – we can’t wait to implement it into our practices and offer you an even better and more comprehensive service!
