YSDS: Protecting Costly Life Sciences Products—Across the Logistics Chain

Introduction

Founded in 2006, YSDS is an international logistics company specializing in unique, customized logistics solutions. Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden with 11 offices worldwide—and focused on life sciences, IT, and Emergency Part Logistics—YSDS has more than 150 qualified partners and successfully conducts over 80,000 shipments annually.

To get—and stay—ahead of the evolving logistics chain visibility technology available, YSDS began looking into real-time shipment tracking solutions. Previously, the company used manual tracking methods that were extremely high maintenance—and the company wanted to provide a much higher level of visibility to their global clients and stakeholders.

Within YSDS’ Life Science offering are tailormade, GDP-certified logistics solutions for time and temperature-sensitive shipments within R&D, clinical trials, Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs), and commercial supply chain. These shipments are of high value, and tools that can contribute to risk mitigation and safekeeping during their transportation journey are a necessity.

In early 2024, John Coleman—Business Unit Director, YSDS Life Science—kicked off a short proof-of-value trial using Tive. Coleman had been exposed to Tive’s extensive tracking and reporting capabilities via social media, and was curious to see how the solution would work for their life sciences clients. “We saw that the industry was moving towards providing real-time reporting, and we knew we had to jump on this train,” he says.

YSDS tried several solutions with one paramount requirement: the tracking solution they picked needed to feature dry ice and cryogenic probes, as many of their shipments require ultra-low temperatures. They were most satisfied by Tive: “Tive checks all the boxes that we need—and enables us to provide the features and services that our clients want,” Coleman continues.

Proof of Value Proved Perfect

Before using Tive on customer shipments, YSDS decided to conduct a test run. They added a Tive Solo 5G non-lithium tracker to a dummy shipment, and was easily able to set up the shipment and configure acceptable temperature ranges in the Tive cloud platform. They also configured the platform to send them real-time alerts if anything strayed outside of the designated ranges—including temperature, humidity, and light alerts.

“Using the tracker and setting up shipments is easy, and the entire Operations team were happy with the process,” Coleman explains. He says that they had internally decided on five main features and aspects that needed to get high scores before he could get Tive approved by the entire YSDS team. “Tive scored high on each, and we were quickly able to determine that Tive real-time trackers work as promised.”

The Five Reasons YSDS Chose Tive

1. The devices and platform are intuitive and easy to use. YSDS requires that the platform and trackers be easy for their Operations team to use. To activate a tracker, all you have to do is press and hold the Start button. Furthermore, the platform is loaded with features, but the features aren’t required—clients can use only the ones that are important to their unique operations.
2. The trackers work for all types of shipments—across all modes of transportation. Using Tive eliminates the need for exceptions. YSDS no longer needs to use specific devices to monitor different temperatures because the Solo 5G Non-Lithium trackers cover temperature ranges from -20°C to 60°C, and temperatures below -20°C are covered by Tive’s Dry Ice or Cryogenic probes. YSDS also no longer needs to have special forms for certain regions or jump through hoops for airline use. It is simple for the YSDS Operations team to set up and use Tive.
3. Tive Solo 5G trackers can be safely used on more than 170 air carriers. One of the biggest reasons YSDS chose Tive is because Solo 5G Non-Lithium trackers are approved for use on more than 170 air carriers—including the ones YSDS uses most frequently.
4. It is easy to share shipment links with customers. YSDS wanted to be able to share shipment links with their customers—so they could also have real-time insight into the location and condition of their shipments. This also enables their clients to share information with their stakeholders, so everyone is on the same page.
5. Tive has outstanding customer support. Tive customers always get immediate support—whenever they need it. According to Coleman: “This level of support is quite crucial for us being that we are new to real-time tracking in general. Tive provides and delivers everything I ask for—and that is one of the reasons why this is such a good partnership.”

Exceeding Customer Requirements = Competitive Advantage

It is hard for companies to gain—and retain—customer trust and confidence, and YSDS takes customer satisfaction extremely seriously. “We are a vital part of our clients’ project or product successes. They trust us to move their high-value products, including delicate and cells and genes for advanced therapies. It’s vital that every tool we offer to mitigate the possible risks a product faces on its journey is of the highest quality. And Tive truly enables us to offer the highest quality when it comes to real-time insights,” says Coleman.  

YSDS now offers Tive trackers for every life sciences shipment because this cargo is extremely expensive—not to mention critical to patient health and outcomes. There is simply no option for failure in Coleman’s mind. If there is value in creating these costly life sciences products, there is value in protecting them across the logistics chain: “I feel very confident in Tive and am pleased with the solution we’ve chosen because it enables us to meet and exceed our clients’ requirements,” Coleman ends.