UPS a global leader in logistics, announced that it is working with QIAGEN, a leading global provider of molecular diagnostics and sample preparation technologies, to deliver nucleic acid extraction kits critical to COVID-19 testing, as well as its novel QIAstat-Dx Coronavirus testing cartridges to destinations around the world.
With governments and public authorities classifying UPS as an essential service provider, the company is combining the flexibility of its global network with QIAGEN’s increased production capacity for COVID-19 testing kits produced at their facility in Hilden, Germany to help healthcare workers curb the spread of the disease.
“Customers and governments around the world are turning to the reliability of UPS’s smart global logistics network to help fight this pandemic,” said Lou Rivieccio, president, UPS Europe. “Business continuity has never been more important for our customers and that is what we continue to deliver whether it be for delivery or storage of medicines, testing kits or medical supplies. And when it comes to ensuring that increased production volumes of testing kits reach vital destinations around the world such as hospitals and labs, our teams are here to help customers navigate complexity and focus on fighting this pandemic. Agility, flexibility and fast response in the supply chain arena are helping to combat this outbreak as it shifts from Asia to Europe and North America.”
In Europe, UPS has recently invested $2 billion in its network and services. This investment has allowed the company to implement dynamic contingency plans that can adapt to the rapidly changing business environment. Despite recent border closures, UPS is continuing to serve the needs of its customers. Through its European air hub at Cologne-Bonn Airport, the company is able to ensure swift and efficient transportation of essential shipments in Europe and to destinations around the world.
“We have and continue to increase our production of reagents and COVID-19 testing kits to meet the current extraordinary demand for our products worldwide. Our supply chains, both to our production facilities as well as to our customers in laboratories and hospitals are crucial at this time,” said Barthold Piening, Senior Vice President, Head of Global Operations at QIAGEN. “Just as our teams at QIAGEN are working 24/7 to ensure production we know we can rely upon UPS as our logistics partner to make sure these kits and components arrive on time and in the right condition to where they’re needed most. We share our ambition with UPS, with its flexible global network, to make our solutions as widely available as possible.”
These efforts to support QIAGEN’s global needs to respond to a global challenge with sophisticated supply chain management are in line with UPS’s support of governments and other private sector customers working to curb the Coronavirus pandemic. UPS is a significant part of the world economy, transporting three percent of global GDP every day, and its employees are proud of the critical role the company plays for its customers, communities and the economies in countries where it operates.
The company is supporting public health bodies around the world with the shipment of crucial healthcare equipment, including the recent shipment of ventilators to the UK’s National Health Service. To support the global relief effort in response to the novel Coronavirus, the UPS Foundation announced new grant allocations to United Nations agencies, humanitarian relief partners and international non-government organizations. In the United States, UPS is supporting Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with “Project Airbridge”, a coordinated effort to expedite the arrival of critical supplies needed in US hospitals.
UPS Healthcare provides extensive services ranging from healthcare-licensed distribution space, supply chain management, to temperature-control packaging and shipping, storage and fulfillment of medical devices, labs and clinical trial specimens. With capabilities for GDP- and GMP-compliant warehousing and transport of critical shipments, UPS Healthcare’s global infrastructure, monitoring and tracking capabilities, and private data protection are well-suited to help those on the front lines to flatten the curve of this virus’s impact.
