Eli Lilly signs deal with DHL

Global pharmaceutical business Eli Lilly and Company has selected DHL to manage its promotional logistics operations in Europe.

Global pharmaceutical business Eli Lilly and Company has selected DHL to manage its promotional logistics operations in Europe.

As part of the three-year contract DHL will provide the company with an 11,000 sq ft central distribution centre in Meung-sur-Loire in France.

The European DC will serve national distribution hubs across Europe, supplying Lilly’s pharmaceutical representatives with promotional material ordered through its Externis front office system, eCOS.

DHL Global Mail and DHL Express will be jointly responsible for deliveries in the new structure, which is being implemented in France, the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain.

DHL Exel Supply Chain will fulfil more than 50,000 orders per year of promotional material such as giveaways, leaflets and medical devices, as well as managing inventory in temperature-controlled conditions for specialist products such as diagnostic kits.

Luca Fabbri, European PMPD manager at Lilly, said: “With several thousands of orders to be fulfilled across Europe every year, we needed a real business-to-consumer logistics organisation which could offer a high-precision supply chain.

“The specific nature of our requirement and the complexity of our organisation meant that Lilly required a partner who would not only be able to set up a centralised and streamlined distribution network, but who could also offer a multilingual front office system to optimise ordering processes for both our pharmaceutical sales representatives and our sales management team.”