Healthcare Supply Chain Technology and Strategy

Ever decide you want to run for some kind of office and hire a campaign manager?The first likely bit of advice? “Dress impeccably every day because you’ll look much more powerful.” and as Fernando says.                                           It's better to look good than to feel good. It’s all about image, most people realized long ago that to be successful you had to look the part and look good in corporate America. “People judge you on how you look, whether we like it or not,”  The findings of the Elle/MSNBC.com Work & Power Survey when it comes to the attractiveness meter. Seem to bear this out yet again.  Good-looking bosses were found to be more competent, collaborative and better delegators than their less attractive counterparts, and most women believe they are judged in the workplace on the basis of their looks. “Physical attractiveness ...

Passionate customers who love doing business with you: that’s an aspiration that only matters to consumer-market companies, right? Some social media or dot.com era company that sends free promotional items out constantly?  After all, clear-eyed purchasing buyers at Health care, Business and industrial customers don’t put much stock in loyalty. They base their decisions on a cold assessment of product features and price. Right? Think again. What we all know in the small business world has been validated yet again. It turns out that even in business-to-business markets, customer loyalty can accelerate growth and create a competitive advantage.  In studies of loyalty metrics for B2B companies the following key elements were found: Customers who are “promoters” of a company have an average lifetime value between three and 12 times that of “detractors,” Promoters stay longer with the company, buy more products, usually cost less to serve and are more likely to refer the supplier to...

When team leaders or team members in your organization bump up against poor policies or unrealistic targets, what do they do? Do they shoot up a flare and engage people in solving these issues, promptly? Or, do they ignore those policies or targets, swim upstream against the organizational current, and do the right thing? Or do they go along, compliant to the poor policies or unrealistic targets, saying, “It’s not my job to fix that,” etc.? By far the most common reaction is the last one: employees compliantly enforce the poor policies and align to the unrealistic targets.  Some  team members do the right thing for customers or peers. Sometimes their efforts stay below the radar, but sometimes their efforts are discovered and they are redirected to align/adhere to the existing policies and targets. Too few  team members proactively engage people in addressing these issues. Does your organization have poor policies or unrealistic targets in place today? It’s likely th...

" If a tree falls  in a  forest  and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"  Too much inventory or not enough?  OK it may not be on the same level, but for most supply chain professionals the questions both evoke the same thought provoking  discussions  and struggles.  It’s the eternal struggle at the heart of effective supply chain management, but it’s an equation organizations continually get wrong.  It’s a typical situation; a business holds too much inventory, so attempts to reduce it, inventory is cut to an acceptable level, only to find, a few weeks later, customers can’t get the products they want. So ramp up and buy extra for the next few months. The result? They end up with more inventory than they started with. But it doesn't have to be like this. Just follow these simple tips: •  Understand your inventory.  Trying to remove inventory without tackling the root cause is like tackling the symptoms of an illness ...

Business Depends on Integrated Purchasing and Logistics Studies finds that purchasing and logistics collaboration results in greater efficiency, reduced complexity and lower operating expenses. Organizations that integrate their purchasing and logistics functions deliver better business results, according to a  new study  from the Global Supply Chain Institute at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. No surprise then that companies who want to achive this goal are uniquely suited to a single integrated ERP software system that easily allows cross function communications. From the small business with 3 employees that has the same purchasing and sales agents. To the multimillion dollar one with a team of 10 purchasing agents and 50+ sales people the study proves that communications and a single view are paramount in making your operations work effectively. But the study, involving more than 180 supply chain professionals, also shows that many firms fail to capitalize on this o...

Keys, wallet, cell phone – most people don't leave home without them. Among today's consumers, the forgotten cell phone invokes the most panic. In a recent Pew Research Center study, 30 percent of individuals surveyed described their phone as "something they can't imagine living without." Mobile devices, specifically smart phones and tablets, have become the mission control center for managing all aspects of life. Increasing consumer dependence on mobile devices represents huge opportunities for all types of businesses that can learn quickly to leverage and embrace mobile technology trends. Does your business have a well-defined mobile strategy? Mobile Strategy should involve not just the traditional sales models and ecommerce sites, and while it's important include those in your mix, one often overlooked area is purchasing and warehouse management. Just because the mobile device is in your warehouse doesn't mean it's not part of your mobile strategy.  T...

Ace Hardware Corp., a 90-year-old co-op that oversees nearly 5,000 locally owned hardware stores, never would be mistaken for trendy. But its recent growth proves that everything old eventually becomes fashionable again. “We are a service-based, high-touch, local business,” says John Venhuizen, CEO of the Oak Brook-based chain. “The shop-local trend is one that has served us well.” Does this sound familiar to you? You might be a "service-based, high-touch, local business" as well.  Ace always has focused on modest stores. Its average footprint is about 8,000 square feet, a mere couple of aisles in a typical 100,000-square-foot Home Depot. Lower overhead helped propel Ace to record profit and sales . Net income increased almost 28 percent to $104.5 million as revenue rose 8 percent to $4.15 billion. But while small may be beautiful, it's still small. For perspective, Home Depot Inc. rings up more every three weeks, on average, than Ace does in an entire year. Mr. Venhuizen...