It’s Critical to Ship Medical Equipment Correctly.
No company wants its assets to be lost or damaged while being transported. The stakes are extremely high for medical equipment producers, hospitals, and others in the business. Not only do you need to preserve your investment, but the instruments, devices, and supplies you’re transporting may be critical to a patient’s effective diagnosis and treatment.
Patients could be harmed if an asset is delayed or damaged. As a result, you must go above and above to ensure that your things arrive in perfect condition and in a timely manner.
Understanding your alternatives is the first step in delivering major medical equipment, smaller devices, drugs, or supplies. To learn more about our experienced packaging, crating, and shipping services, please contact a Craters & Freighters location near you at your earliest convenience.
The following real-life examples will make you aware.
Medical Equipment Shipping: Concealed Damage Causes 1 Million Dollars
In 2018, a prominent medical equipment manufacturer finished orders for 12 X-ray machines and cheerfully shipped them to clients. Customers were dissatisfied with them. 7 of them have obvious scratches and one of them is malfunctions.
The loss is up to $ US 1 million dollars, and 66% of delivery damage causes a bad reputation for business. The senior executives then summoned supervisors from the production, shipping, purchase, quality control departments to investigate the loss.
What Damages Medical Equipment?
First, the exterior is fine and function tests are all passed before ship, according to video and photos.
Next, as the container arrived at the port, it clearly collided with other containers during the movement, according to the VRC. The magnitude of the damage cannot be determined, but the impact force is significant.
Last, the exterior of 5 wooden boxes providing the protection of the equipment was out of shape, according to images taken when the client received the equipment. The relative handlers did not report to the carrier.
Equipment damage induced caused by shipping conditions, however, the packaging has evident flaws in protection as follows.
1. The equipment should be kept in a wooden box and securely protected.
2. The damaged exterior of the boxes should be reported by the handlers.
3. When packages are shipped via container, there are gaps between them.
How do I pack medical supplies safely and securely?
1. Make use of custom packaging
You must ensure that costly medical equipment and supplies are wrapped and crated in a way that ensures maximum protection. Putting products inside a crate or corrugated cardboard box and surrounding them with a little packing material is not adequate, whether you do it yourself or delegate it to your logistics provider. Shipping preparation must be deliberate, including the use of bespoke blocking and bracing created by package engineers.
2. Use reusable packaging
Having a reusable custom container made for things that will be delivered frequently can maximize asset security while in transit while also saving you money. Hardware such as link locks, hinges, and locking hasps can be added to customized crates to ensure that they shut securely and open conveniently without the use of tools. Labels, stenciling, or logos that clearly identify your company as the owner can be applied to crates.
3. Apply a security seal.
Consider using a zip tie with a seal number, also known as a security seal, to secure your shipping container if you’re shipping a full truckload. If the same zip tie arrives undamaged at its final destination, your product has not been handled since the trailer was loaded and closed.
4. Insure and track
Medical supplies and equipment can be quite costly. As a result, it’s critical to insure them correctly and commit them to a logistics company that can trace them from collection to delivery.
How to Track Medical Equipment Packaging?
Normally, the carrier is responsible for ensuring the safe transportation of the products, but proving liability for damage to the goods, particularly hidden damage that is difficult to detect, is extremely challenging.
Most recipients will sign the delivery certificate without opening the package to check it under typical circumstances. But then, you are responsible for the damage.
You can use various indicators on your boxes to indicate if your product was mishandled at any point during the shipping process. These labels raise awareness of the possibility of problems. They also act as a clear deterrent to your carrier’s rough treatment.
Impact Labels: change color when a box is dropped from a specific height or struck with a damaging amount of force from any direction.
Dual Impact Labels: with 2 separate color-changing spots to indicate where the damaging amount of force was applied.
Leaning Label: When the container is tilted over 80 degrees, the label will change color.
According to data, using impact indicators can reduce the loss of goods during transportation by 40-60%.
Here are some of the various indicators.
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| Impact Label | Dual Impact Label | Leaning Label |
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Medical equipment is essential for patient care, but sometimes it can seem like such a hassle to transport it without sustaining damage. The equipment is often highly sensitive and fragile, not to mention expensive. |
