Marcus Roberts

Senior Manager, Quality,
Pharma Services,
Memphis, TN

Marcus Roberts

Senior Manager, Quality,
Pharma Services,
Memphis, TN

 

How one split-second decision made a difference for thousands of patients.

In the world of drug manufacturing not all life-saving decisions happen in the lab. Sometimes it’s a lot closer to delivery that key moments require fast thinking. Such as one Saturday morning in Memphis, TN, when Marcus noticed the freezer temperatures were out of range. With over 2,000 cold chain shipments leaving his facility per day, he couldn’t afford to lose a week’s supply due to warm temperatures. As the repair crew worked on the issue, Marcus knew it wasn’t an easy fix and he needed a backup. So he had to make a call, on a weekend, without time to consult the chain of command. Soon, Marcus had a few freezer trailers on site, and an emergency work crew helping to load ice into them, so they could keep the week’s supply safe. And on Sunday, when he got the notification that the main freezer was having issues again, he knew he had made the right call. Today, the freezer is fully operational, and such issues are rare. However, we now keep extra freezer trailers on site permanently as a back-up, just in case.