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National Medical Logistics Newsletter |
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It was great seeing many of you at the recent AHRMM conference in San Antonio. Those of you in attendance know that one of the themes at that meeting was the heightened interest in self-distribution. It seems that if you are not currently doing self-distribution, chances are you are probably looking at it. As materials costs rise but the pressure to keep prices flat remains, organizations will continue to look for ways to squeeze costs from the supply chain.
Many of our inquires and recent engagements have involved just this type of analysis. Give us a call if you too are pondering the many pros and cons of self-distribution and need help with that decision making process. To contact us now, simply click here.
Greg Swanson & Tom Seliquini
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Intermountain Selects NML
National Medical Logistics (NML) of Richmond, Virginia has been selected by Intermountain Healthcare (IH) to conduct supply chain logistics analysis to assist with developing their long term strategic plan.
According to Richard Beach with Intermountain, "Developing our long term strategic plan requires a better understanding of what improvement opportunities exist, what it will take to achieve them and what the projected costs and benefits might be. Sometimes the size and scope of these opportunities are hard to quantify without soliciting a qualified external perspective. We chose National Medical Logistics because of their logistical focus, objectivity, healthcare expertise and industry neutrality status. This allows them to objectively consider all of the possibilities in the marketplace while supporting IH in developing the best option for Intermountain."
Read more
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Trend Spotlight: Fuel Costs
While gas prices have moderated somewhat in recent weeks, the longer term picture with regard to transportation costs remains troublesome and cloudy. Clearly, fuel costs are becoming an increasingly meaningful piece of the supply chain cost pie.
One trend we've noticed in this regard is that some healthcare systems are conducting intensive analyses on just the transportation portion of their operations. Many are finding it worth the time to study the logistics associated with not only their courier systems on the outbound side, but the inbound shipping costs associated with their purchasing, as well.
Among the key things that we find that clients can do to make an impact in this area are:
- Perform a review of existing owned vehicle routes for redundancy and inefficiency
- Conduct a review of transportation assets to ensure proper sizing, numbers, etc.
- Analyze current activities to expose any potential abusive behavior (caused internally or externally)
- Piggy-back deliveries when possible by setting up schedules
- Review vendor partners' routing and fuel charges against contracts and service needs; require vendors to provide a copy of the fuel surcharge
- Perform invoice audits to identify incorrect fees & overcharges
- Measure performance by setting up relevant Transportation Metrics (labor, maintenance, mileage, etc.)
- Contact NML for help with any of the above
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