GLOBENEWSWIRE, May 24, 2018 – When patient care is critical, time is of the essence. That’s why UPS (NYSE: UPS) announced today new field inventory technology to help ensure that surgical kits and implantable medical devices arrive where they need to be, when they need to be there.
The integrated solution – a collaboration with WebOps, a medical device logistics and analytics technology provider, and Baxter Planning, an inventory planning and optimization solutions provider – helps medical device manufacturers optimize their supply chain amid stricter standards for patient safety. Specifically, the WebOps application enables precise tracking of surgery schedules, physician preferences, inventory availability and movement of surgical kits and implants. Surgeons and hospitals, device and instrument manufacturers, and distributors can also communicate about implant usage, product needs and consumption. Baxter Planning’s solution provides unified inventory planning for the consigned inventory across hospitals and forward stocking locations to simultaneously improve order fulfillment and productivity while helping to reduce inventory and transportation costs.
- 20-50% reduction in inventory
- 10-30% reduction in expedited order requests
- Critical shipments delivered to 80% of hospital beds and surgery centers within 4 hours
The majority of medical device inventory lies outside a manufacturer’s direct control, vacillating between field representatives and hospitals. This limited visibility can result in redundant inventories within local markets and increased inventory carry costs and can leave field sales representatives managing logistics instead of supporting surgeons. With increasing requirements in the industry, manufacturers need better control over their field inventory.
UPS currently operates a network of both healthcare field stocking locations and distribution centers serving manufacturers and distributors of medical devices. The additional platforms provide cloud-based capabilities to help optimize field inventory through enhanced planning, visibility, streamlined logistics and focused “final-mile” services. The integration of the platforms with UPS warehouse and transportation systems creates a comprehensive inventory workload planning and visibility tool.
The resulting solution centralizes inventory for better control and visibility and can help you to maintain product integrity, reduce inventory, enhance sales force and customer service effectiveness, and improve field resource and asset utilization. Manufacturers can achieve 20-50% reduction in inventory and 10-30% reduction in expedited order requests. Also, UPS’s current U.S. network of healthcare compliant facilities means that critical shipments can be delivered to 80% of hospital beds and surgery centers within four hours.
“Medical device manufacturers require specialized services and solutions to solve problems that help to improve patient care,” said David O’Leary, vice president of operations, UPS global logistics and distribution. “We are now leveraging these core strengths to bring solutions to the implantable medical device industry that offer better visibility and quality, reduced inventory and lower supply chain costs.”
About UPS Healthcare
UPS provides global supply chain solutions and expertise to pharmaceutical, biopharma and medical device companies. UPS has approximately 8 million square feet of cGMP- or cGDP-compliant healthcare distribution space. UPS also maintains one of the world’s largest networks of field stocking locations with approximately 900 sites. For parcels requiring strict temperature environments, from CRT to cryogenic, and those requiring around-the-clock monitoring, UPS has solutions such as UPS Temperature True™ and UPS Proactive Response™ services. UPS is committed to expanding its healthcare capabilities including recent acquisitions of Marken, CEMELOG and Poltraf, to meet the complex and evolving supply chain needs of the healthcare and life science sectors. Visit ups.com/healthcare.
About Baxter Planning
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with employees around the globe, Baxter Planning was founded in 1993 and provides inventory optimization technology and expertise to medical equipment and device companies. Baxter Planning’s differentiated combination of a SaaS platform featuring planning as a service (PaaS) enables supply chain organizations to deliver dramatic improvements to profitability and cash flow. Baxter Planning’s experience in the medical market includes solutions delivered for leading providers such as Bio-Rad, Illumina, and Carestream Health. Visit baxterplanning.com to learn more.
