DHL Supply Chain has launched a new service logistics solution for the medical device sector which consolidates field inventory into single locations and uses quality management systems to provide better control and traceability of valuable products.
The company said it was responding to a number of growing industry challenges, including greater demand from an ageing and more active population through to increasing cost pressure from healthcare providers.
These factors have led to an ever-increasing need to better manage inventory, both in the field and in hospital and the final mile solution focuses on the need for companies in the medical device sector to address the compromises between cost and availability and drive efficiencies in field inventory, it added.
Tim Slater, CEO of DHL Supply Chain Life Sciences, said: “This solution draws on our Life Sciences expertise in managing critical lifesaving products and our global capability to organize mission critical deliveries into complex environments.
“It is replicable, provides high visibility of inventory both inside and outside the hospital and is fully compliant globally with the rigorous standards required. It facilitates a reduction of capital commitment for inventory through just-in-time availability to hospitals, removing the requirement for just-in-case storage of medical devices.”
The solution utilizes an established global supply chain infrastructure that is certified to the required standards for each market. The solution is already deployed for a major global provider of medical devices in multiple countries across the world.
In addition to better managing consigned inventory and improving sales force efficiency, it also provides a platform to standardized service and quality systems; whilst at the same time enabling product returns, customer segmentation activities such as kitting and value-added services to meet local market and customer needs.
John Farrell, President of DHL Supply Chain, Service Logistics Solutions, commented: “We have built our expertise through successfully deploying a similar solution in the technology sector. It is ideally suited to the medical device market, where critical products are required just-in-time. We provide full stock visibility and control through pooling of consignment stocks outside of hospitals; while providing mission critical availability of inventory on a same day basis.”
In a report it published earlier this year, DHL said advanced supply chains could be “the vital catalyst” for transforming Life Sciences to better meet increasing demand cost-effectively.
The report, ‘Future of Life Sciences and Healthcare Logistics’, highlighted the urgency for the sector to transform in response to evolving patient needs and technology advancements.
At the time of its publication, DHL quoted a recent report that ranked the sector in the bottom 20th percentile of the McKinsey Global Institute Industry Digitization Index, lagging behind the public sector.
DHL’s report provides insights on key trends in the industry and how the evolving patient-centric healthcare approach will require more complex, capable and cost-effective supply chains. It identifies six key trends and technologies that healthcare supply chains can leverage to help it thrive in an environment where demand is set to rise faster than the funds available to pay for it.
