Aggregation in pharma: Building the pharmaceutical hierarchy

In Part one of our series, we discussed how serialization provides a unique digital fingerprint for every individual pharmaceutical product unit. This critical step ensures each bottle, carton or blister pack has its identifiable mark. But what happens when thousands of these serialized units need to be moved efficiently through the vast pharmaceutical supply chain? Manually scanning each item would be an impossible, time-consuming and error-prone task.

This is where aggregation comes into play. Aggregation is the crucial next step that streamlines the handling of bulk shipments while maintaining granular traceability. It’s about creating logical, verifiable parent-child relationships across different packaging levels, transforming a collection of individual items into a manageable, hierarchical structure.

What is aggregation? Creating parent-child relationships

Aggregation uses the unique identifiers from serialization to create a nested hierarchy. Instead of requiring you to scan ten individual bottles one by one, aggregation allows you to scan the carton that contains those ten bottles simply. Similarly, rather than scanning every single carton on a pallet, you can scan the pallet’s unique ID once, and the system instantly knows every carton—and by extension, every serialized unit–inside.

Consider a common pharmaceutical packaging hierarchy:

• Individual units: Ten serialized bottles are packaged.
• Carton level: These ten serialized bottles are packed into a single carton. This carton then receives its own unique carton-level serial number. Crucially, the system associates all ten bottle serial numbers with this carton’s serial number.
• Case/Pallet level: Ten cartons are then packed onto a pallet, which is assigned its own pallet-level serial number. Again, the system associates all ten carton serial numbers (and by extension, all the bottles within) with this pallet’s ID.

The power of aggregation lies in the fact that each packaging level “knows” which serialized units it contains. This isn’t just a theoretical database entry; it’s physically verified and recorded on the packaging line before that association is stored in the database. This physical verification ensures data accuracy and supply chain integrity. Consequently, a simple scan of the carton or pallet instantly confirms the contents and authenticity of every child unit inside.

Why aggregation matters: Efficiency and reduced risk

Without aggregation, the pharmaceutical supply chain would grind to a halt. Imagine needing to verify the contents of a sealed pallet: you’d be forced to unpack it, scan every single carton, then every single bottle. This is where aggregation shines:

• Simplifies bulk shipments: It allows for efficient movement and tracking of large quantities of products.
• Enables efficient scanning: Dramatically speeds up scanning processes at every point in the supply chain—from manufacturer warehouses to distribution centers and even at the pharmacy level.
• Reduces labor costs and human error: By minimizing the number of scans required, it significantly reduces manual labor and the potential for mistakes.

If you only implement serialization without aggregation, you gain unit-level identity, but you lose the critical efficiency needed for real-world distribution. You’d need to scan every bottle individually, even if they’re perfectly sealed within a case, leading to wasted time, soaring labor costs, and a higher risk of human error during handling and verification.

Systech’s seamless aggregation solutions

At Systech, our aggregation solutions are designed to integrate seamlessly with our line inspection and data management layers. This tight integration means that as products move from one packaging level to the next—from bottle to carton, from carton to case, and from case to pallet—you maintain visibility at every step. Every parent-child relationship is captured, verified, and recorded in real time, ensuring that the digital record precisely mirrors the physical reality of your packaged products.

This robust aggregation capability, built upon a strong serialization foundation, is essential for maintaining product integrity and preparing for the comprehensive traceability requirements we’ll discuss in the final part of our series.

In Part three, we will bring it all together by defining Traceability—the “big picture” view that leverages both serialization and aggregation data to provide end-to-end visibility throughout the entire pharmaceutical supply chain.

For help with finding your exact solution to your aggregation needs, explore our Product Finder now!