Healthcare Supply Chain Technology and Strategy

Move your customers to same day delivery using technology from another industry. As you may have noticed I am a big fan of Amazon's services in general and one of the latest offerings, Amazon Prime Now, led me to discussions with a number of clients who wanted to emulate or explore how they could also achieve same day delivery.  Companies like   McMaster-Carr have made a billion dollar business on the same day delivery model. If you are not familiar  with it , Amazon Prime now offers thousands of products on a two hour delivery time frame and having used the product extensively I must say  I would pay for the convenience however it's currently free to prime members. Having said that to differentiate themselves in the Retail Pharmacy space a client recently said , what other value can we bring to these clients? During the meeting it was suggested that same day delivery was a good value as it would allow them to tell patients/customers, "No problem I can have the presc...

Turns out bigger is not always better when it comes to distribution. Most of our blog posts look at what the larger distributors are doing and try to adapt the concepts to small and medium sized business. But for this week a surprising trend is emerging.. The E-Commerce Supply chain is driving demand for smaller, Urban Distribution Centers. In today's world of e-commerce distribution, speed and mobility are key. Just like how any customer who orders a widget from Amazon.com expects it to be on their doorstep two days later or less, businesses ordering commercial products now expect the same speedy service from distributors. As the pace of B2B continues to transform distribution trends, it appears one of them is in the distribution centers themselves. New data from real estate firm CBRE Inc. shows that demand for industrial facilities under 100,000 square feet in urban areas is on the rise. Traditionally, large distribution centers have been located in suburbs and small towns, where...

Often we talk about supply chain metrics or KPI ( Key performance indicators) without explaining the purpose or reason we measure them and watch them. On a daily basis we often push a number or percentage and tell people to watch them, but the most common question we get is....  Why does that matter?  So to help you along today here a few simple metrics/indicators and why they matter.  In addition since many the of the metrics don't really explain what is good or what is bad we can look at some of the different types of graphs to help us see a trend and figure out how to correct or react.  While some of this data may be readily available in your ERP/Business management system, if not you can always start with a spreadsheet or a piece of paper.  As the saying goes,  "If you can not measure it, you can not improve it." - Lord  Kelvin   Cash Conversion Cycle  In it's simplest form , how long does it take for your money to make money.  Take ...