Interview with David Evans, Managing Director of Movianto UK
David Evans has had an illustrious career in logistics, spanning over several decades. Movianto, a leading provider of logistics and supply chain solutions for the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors, has been at the forefront of delivering innovative and efficient services to its clients for almost 50 years in the UK. David’s journey with Movianto began in 2011, and over the years he has played a pivotal role in expanding and developing the company’s freight forwarding and transport capabilities in Europe. In this interview, David shares insights into his career journey, the unique services offered by Movianto, and the challenges and opportunities in the UK healthcare market.

Q: Can you tell us about your career journey and your past experiences in logistics?
David Evans: I started my career with a university degree in International Transport and Maritime Studies, inspired by my father who ran a small commercial port in South Wales. I spent ten years at a family-owned freight forwarding transport company, where I joined as a trainee and worked my way up to the board of directors. In 2001, I joined NYK Logistics/Yusen, where I spent seven years in the automotive division, focusing on inbound logistics for car manufacturers. It was during my time at Yusen in 2008 that I transitioned into the pharmaceutical and healthcare logistics sector, driven by the opportunity for growth and new challenges and lured by the features of the product and the level of requirements of the Pharma space.
Q: What inspired you to pursue a career in pharma/healthcare logistics?
David Evans: I already had years of experience doing general logistics, for steel products, cars, etc. Healthcare logistics offered a new and different challenge, and I saw it as an industry with opportunities for personal growth, and I have certainly not been disappointed.
Q: When did you join Movianto?
David Evans: I joined Movianto in 2011, hired by the CEO to establish a freight forwarding and transport side of the business to develop a seamless end to end service. This freight forwarding activity eventually split off into Transpharma International in 2020 with the establishment of the Walden Group, and over the next four years I acted as CEO, developing the business and its footprint in Europe, and making several acquisitions along the way. In June 2024, I returned to Movianto as the Managing Director of the UK, motivated by the opportunity to take on a new role involving full logistics solutions, from the first mile to value-added services such as warehousing, order fulfilment, and last-mile delivery.
Q: Is there anything that you know now and from which you would say: I wished to have known this earlier?
David Evans: One of the key lessons I’ve learned is the importance of decision-making. Early in my career, I was at times overly cautious in making decisions, fearing the possibility of making wrong choices. However, I have realised that in the dynamic environment of logistics, it is essential to make decisions in good time and keep business moving forward, as indecision can lead to being overtaken by events. We live in a space of complex supply chains with rare and fragile products than run on a Just in time basis that put a lot of strains and value on the shoulders of the logistical management part.
Q: What unique services does your logistics operation offer that set you apart from the rest?
David Evans: One of the key selling points of Movianto UK is that we provide full end-to-end solutions within our own control, from order receipt to first mile transport, to warehousing and final mile delivery. This includes handling pharma products ranging from ultra-low-temperature freezer items to those requiring 15-25°C temperature-regulated vans. And we continue to grow our service offering over time; in addition to our pharmaceutical speciality, we have become experts in medical devices and value-added services such as kitting and order fulfilment in the med-tech sector. Our commitment to our customers is to put ourselves in their shoes and develop services that respond to real pain points. As an example, we are developing more and more Order to Cash services, enabling many manufacturers to concentrate more on their core business.
We are currently developing new digital services to give our customers greater visibility and understanding of their supply chain. We really dedicate ourselves to being experts in all aspects of the healthcare supply chain, on our own and in-house, and not many others can say the same.
In addition, our unique capabilities in Northern Ireland, including storage and distribution facilities and a wholesale market access model, add to our strengths in the UK market.
Q: Can you provide examples of how these services have benefited your clients?
David Evans: Our clients can concretely see the benefits of working with our team of experts, who provide clear control and visibility on their logistics solutions. Our capabilities include delivering to patients’ homes, hospitals, pharmacies and wholesalers, all under one commercial agreement. This really benefits our clients because they have one point of contact, they know that their supply chains are as optimised as possible, and they can collection consult the status of their goods thanks to in depth reporting.
Q: Can you give some more details about the specificities of your country’s healthcare market and systems locally?
David Evans: In recent times the UK has had much lower capacity for the manufacture of pharmaceutical products, and a significant amount of the medicines we consume here are imported. However, we are seeing a new trend towards onshoring of manufacturing driven by recent global supply chain issues.
Brexit has also introduced different methodologies and rules around customs and product licensing which we have needed to adapt to. Being part of the leading contract logistics in Europe for Healthcare, our strong ties with our European colleagues, our expert regulatory watch, and our open lines of communication with our clients, we have managed to navigate these upheavals and have seamlessly delivered high-quality service.
Q: How does Movianto UK fit in with the rest of the Movianto Group? How do you collaborate across borders?
David Evans: One of the strengths of Movianto is that we are not isolated in any single country. Most of our clients work with Movianto in multiple locations, and we actively collaborate with our sister companies in Europe, sharing operational best practices and supporting each other in improving our ways of working. The recent appointment of a new project management function within Movianto UK with a reporting line to the European PMO has further enhanced our operational development and continuous improvement processes.
Q: How do you collaborate with clients to ensure their needs are met?
David Evans: The most important thing for us as a logistics provider is to listen and understand our clients’ needs before structuring and offering a solution. We often aim to deliver a uniform, quality-tested solution, but we’ve found over the years that there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach. So, we remain flexible and can develop bespoke solutions for our clients, whether they are smaller companies or large organisations like the NHS.
For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we developed a completely new model of distribution for the -70C vaccination program and still run this dedicated service for the UK Health Security Agency today. More recently, upon a client’s request, we have completed the installation of a bespoke offsite storage facility to support their manufacturing plant in the UK – this is great example of how Movianto is able to adapt to the needs of the market and the needs of our customers as best we can as requirements evolve.
Q: What are some of the challenges that the UK healthcare market is facing? How is Movianto helping clients face these challenges?
David Evans: The UK healthcare sector is under strain due to ageing populations, challenges in the supply of a trained and qualified workforce, and general concerns around healthcare budgets and value for money. We consider that needs are changing as well with a greater focus on care in the home and personalised medicines, meaning we expect to see a growth in home patient delivery and new delivery patterns emerge.
Movianto UK is well placed to respond to these challenges; after several years of heavy investment into our UK network we are now benefitting from the additional storage capacity on offer at our UK headquarters in Bedford with its dedicated Med-Tech service centre, our national distribution hub at Tamworth, and the recent addition of new vehicles into our distribution fleet. These developments and our roadmap towards automation mean that we can keep pace with the evolution in the market and with the changing needs of our healthcare clients and their end customers.