25-26 March 2026 - Sandton Convention Centre
Stay tuned for our exciting conference programme announcements for 2026!
| 26TH March | Time | Topic | Synopsis | Speaker | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 mins | 09h30-09h40 | Welcome | Welcome and Opening. Run through the agenda and speakers. | Sarantis Kosmas | Sarantis Kosmas is a highly experienced Supply Chain Management professional with over 18 years of experience in the field. He holds his Masters degree in Supply Chain Management of the Cold Chain. Sarantis has worked in a variety of industries including Pharmaceutical, Mining, Personal Care, Fashion Accessories, Food and Retail. He has a wide range of skills and accomplishments, including analytical and process thinking, strong interpersonal skills and publications. |
| 30 mins | 09h40-10h10 | Temperature Mapping the story beyond the process | Temperature mapping is a critical quality requirement in a GxP environment. In recent years there has been increased guidance on how to execute a temperature mapping, which has helped align industry standards and best practice. Now we must go beyond the process, beyond the data and interpreting the story that the data tells to solve deliver real risk mitigation and quality outcomes. | Sarantis Kosmas | Sarantis Kosmas is a highly experienced Supply Chain Management professional with over 18 years of experience in the field. He holds his Masters degree in Supply Chain Management of the Cold Chain. Sarantis has worked in a variety of industries including Pharmaceutical, Mining, Personal Care, Fashion Accessories, Food and Retail. He has a wide range of skills and accomplishments, including analytical and process thinking, strong interpersonal skills and publications. |
| 30 mins | 10h10-10h40 | TMS squared, integrating temperature monitoring and transport management systems to improve operational and quality efficiency | AJ Barnard | AJ Barnard is a pharmacist and cold-chain logistics professional with over 20 years’ experience across pharmaceutical distribution, hospital pharmacy, and temperature-controlled supply chains. He holds a B.Pharm (1999) and M. Pharm (2002) from North-West University. He began his career in clinical and retail pharmacy, including oncology compounding in the UK, before moving into senior operational roles within pharmaceutical warehousing and distribution. AJ is currently General Manager at The Vaccine Bureau, supporting vaccine distribution in collaboration with Biovac. He has led multiple Warehouse Management System implementations and GDP-aligned warehouse transformations across several pharmaceutical organisations, bridging regulatory requirements with real-world operational execution. | |
| 10 mins | 10h40-10h50 | Q&A | |||
| 30 mins | 10h50-11h20 | BREAK | |||
| 30 mins | 11h20-11h50 | The next stage of cold chain packaging development in South Africa | With the increased scrutiny on cold chain packaging and temperature monitoring, it is critical to ensure that temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical products not only look like they are in compliant packaging but that the packaging is actually compliant. We discuss the benefits and approach to implementation of global best practice solutions. | Sean Petzer | |
| 10 mins | 11h50- 12h00 | Q&A | |||
| 30 mins | 12h00-12h30 | Defrost Cycle: A necessary evil in the cold chain | A defrost cycle is a key element of refrigeration systems, when poorly specified equipment and incorrectly configured parameters are used this introduces real risk to product. We will work through the key technically elements to be considered with refrigeration's systems and there related defrost cycles. | Sarantis Kosmas | Sarantis Kosmas is a highly experienced Supply Chain Management professional with over 18 years of experience in the field. He holds his Masters degree in Supply Chain Management of the Cold Chain. Sarantis has worked in a variety of industries including Pharmaceutical, Mining, Personal Care, Fashion Accessories, Food and Retail. He has a wide range of skills and accomplishments, including analytical and process thinking, strong interpersonal skills and publications. |
| 10 mins | 12h30-12h40 | Q&A | |||
| 80 mins | 12h40-14h00 | LUNCH | |||
| 30 mins | 14h00-14h30 | Validation Concepts | Validation Concepts: – QMS Principles – General Concepts – Validation Process and the Basic Structure – Validation Categories – Data Integrity – Traceability | Micaela Costa | Micaela Costa is a Senior Systems and Test Analyst at Strategnos. She studied BCom Informatics and has her honours in BIT specialising in Information Systems from the University of Pretoria. Her knowledge and interest in the Information Technology industry have allowed her to create concepts that assist with solving business problems and providing solutions using systems. |
| 10 mins | 14h30-14h40 | Q&A | |||
| 30 mins | 14h40- 15h10 | AI for business users | With the pace of AI development making it seem as if Chat GPT was released in the 1900s it is key for business users to stay up to speed with the basic foundational principles and ongoing changes. This session provides a great opportunity for business users to sharpen their understanding of AI and its application in a business context. | Joe van der Walt | |
| 10 mins | 15h10- 15h20 | Q&A | |||
| EXHIBIT BROWSING |
