When optimizing your healthcare supply chain, there are a few key things to keep in mind. Healthcare is a critical sector that requires timeliness with little to no mistakes. By following these tips, you can ensure that your supply chain is as efficient and effective as possible.
1. Understand Your Costs
This might seem basic, but knowing the cost of goods and services you incur along the supply chain is necessary. Establishing precise baseline figures can help you ensure that your supply chain operates as efficiently as possible. If you have inaccurate or missing data, it can be challenging to determine if supply chain optimization will improve the bottom line.
2. Enable Real-Time Tracking and Visibility
Tracking and tracing shipments every step of the way is essential to knowing where supply chain inefficiencies and supply gaps exist. It can be difficult to understand the supply chain’s total impact on your business without this visibility.
3. Don’t Rely on One Supplier
It is always good practice to diversify supply chains to reduce risk. This means that supply chain teams should not rely solely on one supplier for all products. It doesn’t matter if it is a long-term supply contract or a supplier with whom you have had success in the past.
4. Invest in Quality Management and Inventory Systems
Investing in supply chain quality management and inventory systems can help companies ensure and maintain overall supply and demand balance. They help supply chain leaders meet their objectives and improve performance. Quality management systems also help supply chains become more flexible, agile, and efficient while reducing operational costs.
5. Promote a Collaborative Environment
Supply chains are complex systems, and teams must work closely together to be successful. If supply chains are siloed, supply chain leaders will have difficulty mitigating supply and demand issues. By promoting collaboration, supply chain teams can improve efficiency.
6. Use Data to Drive Decisions
When supply chains lack the proper data, supply chain leaders cannot make informed supply and demand decisions. It can be difficult to reduce supply chain barriers, costs, or risks. Using the proper supply chain management systems allows you to keep track of data and supply chain performance easily.
As supply chains continue to grow in complexity, supply chain leaders must do what they can to keep supply chains running as efficiently and effectively as possible. When supply chains don’t meet their objectives or needs, it can become difficult for the leaders to manage supply and demand, especially in critical areas such as the hospital.
