Supply chain solution makes the grade

Manufacturing IPA-based products at Vi-Jon's facility.

Demand for USP grade IPA has increased significantly due to growth in the high volume personal care and skin hygiene markets. Formulators of products in these sectors use IPA because they say it provides important disinfecting properties.

Its formulation flexibility also allows it to be incorporated into a range of hand and skin sanitisers as alcohol rubs, wipes or other topical treatments.

Where IPA is classified as an active pharmaceutical ingredient, it is subject to USP standards designed to assure consumers of the provenance of over-the-counter healthcare and personal care products.

“The ability to provide USP-compliant IPA has become a table stake for supplying into the pharmaceutical and personal care industries,” explains Dave Laucella, Solvents Technical Manager Americas. “Under USP we are responsible for the documentation and delivery of quality assurance, not just during manufacturing but throughout the supply chain, right up until we physically hand product over to the customer.”

The aim is to ensure the integrity of the IPA is maintained by eliminating any potential for contamination or adulteration of the product. A USP supply chain involves using dedicated equipment at every stage of a delivery journey, including storage tanks, road and rail tank cars, right down to the hoses, pumps and couplings used to transfer or discharge product.

“Handling procedures, quality controls and documentation follow prescribed protocols and samples are taken at each stage of a delivery to provide an auditable trail of quality assurance,” says Laucella.

Supply chain controls

Shell has implemented USP processes and controls at its world-scale IPA manufacturing site in Sarnia, Canada, as well as at strategic terminals located across the USA, and through the road and rail transport logistics linking them with customers.

This capability has led to strong relationships with key IPA users including Vi-Jon, one of the oldest and largest producers of consumer health and beauty care products. Shell has developed a tailor-made supply chain to meet its growing needs.

This involves shipping the product by rail from Sarnia to Tennessee, where it is trans-loaded directly into dedicated road tankers for the final leg of the delivery journey. The trans-loading takes place at a Shell distributor’s terminal less than one hour from Vi-Jon’s site outside Nashville.

The terminal receives a constant stream of railcars from Sarnia, while up to six road tankers per day leave the facility for the onward delivery to Vi-Jon. “Being able to trans-load directly into road tankers removes the need for intermediate storage, which would otherwise create another link in the supply chain and increase potential for product contamination,” says Terry Duffy, Solvents Sales Manager.

“We worked closely with our distributor’s local operations team to design the logistics operations, product handling, quality controls and documentation prescribed by USP,” he says.

USP grade IPA is an essential bulk raw material for Vi-Jon and a mandatory requirement in many of its formulations. “We operate in unpredictable and fast moving retail markets,” says Tim Williams, Vi-Jon’s Chief Operations Officer. “One promotion by any of our major retail customers can drain our inventory in a heartbeat, and we need to know the USP grade IPA will be there when we need it.

“The supply arrangement implemented by Shell has delivered good levels of service and, critically, the supply chain flexibility we need. The use of trans-loading effectively gives us local ‘storage on wheels’ and the short distance from the terminal to our site means we receive supplies almost on a ‘just-in-time’ basis.”

What's the USP?

The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) is a non-governmental, official public standards-setting authority for pharmaceutical and healthcare products, recognised and used in more than 130 countries around the globe.

USP sets scientifically developed standards to ensure that over-the counter and prescription medicines or healthcare products are high quality, pure, of the appropriate and expected strength, and are consistent from one pack or bottle to the next.

Adherence to USP standards helps to prevent both deliberate adulteration of products in the supply chain through substitution of lower cost ingredients for higher cost ones, as well as accidental cross-contamination.

This feature was added to the Innovations section in February 2012