Healthcare and Supply Chain: What you Need to Know

Earlier this year, hospitals everywhere were at capacity as more and more patients - many of them fighting for their lives against Covid-19 - came through their doors. While frontline workers such as doctors and nurses worked long hours to care for these patients, they were being supported by support staff, including supply chain managers. Hospital supply chain managers are responsible for having life saving tools, medicines, and supplies on hand, but in this midst of a global pandemic, many of them found themselves struggling to stock supplies that had once been readily available. 

It's no surprise that the use of technology in hospitals is at an all-time high. However, according to a recent survey of 100 hospital supply chain leaders, nearly half of healthcare providers still use a manual process to track inventory. With demand for PPE continuing to rise, can healthcare providers continue with this dangerous trend?

Watch Now: Supply Chain Manager Critical to Hospital Operations During Coronavirus Pandemic

There is good news: surveys show that there is a potential for cost savings in hospitals. One analysis estimates that hospitals could save an average of $11 million annually by streamlining their supply chain processes. This means that investing in supply chain technology and managing costs should be a number one priority for healthcare leaders.

Mobile inventory management simplifies and automates repetitive and error-prone tasks performed within healthcare organizations. The many benefits of software automation include streamlining inventory, minimizing waste, and reducing operational costs. In a healthcare environment, barcoded inventory is more important than ever for ensuring that life-saving inventory is available at every moment.

What to Look for in an Inventory Management Solution

• Ease of Use: Your supply chain software should help care providers to achieve efficient system operations and maintain the standardization of processes.
• Scalability: Your software should grow with your organization - you shouldn't have to re-evaluate or re-implement every few years.
• Reporting and analytics: Your software should generate accurate, real-time inventory reporting information that gives you total visibility to your supply chain.

Know your Worth (or ROI)

Like any business, return on your software investment is an important metric to keep track of. Using an ERP or a WMS can certainly help you build reports, but without knowing what you’re looking for, it may be hard to show your growth. Most metrics fall into two categories: saving money or saving time.

Let’s look more closely at way to maximize supply chain ROI.

Watch Now: This video from Inspirage shows how to set performance targets to prove the value of your supply chain solution.

Add Automation to your Supply Chain

Inaccuracies can occur when inventory numbers are being entered manually. If inventory is counted in the morning and then not keyed in to your ERP until hours or days later, your numbers could already be inaccurate. Mobile data collection eliminates this bulky and error-prone process by automatically updating your systems with the correct information in real-time.

Real-time data collection can save time by eliminating manual data entry. It can also save money as stock levels are always accurate and therefore unnecessary ordering or overstocks can be avoided.

Make Customer Service a Top Priority

One ROI metric you can measure is customer retention – which is often a direct result of customer service.

The first step to great customer service is approaching it as a company holistically. Empowering employees in your warehouse to provide great customer service is a key component of unlocking this metric. When fast shipping and correct orders are everyone’s responsibility, there is an immediate increase in correct orders.

• According to Four Kites, here are some of the biggest increases in ROI that you might see:
• Reduced phone calls and emails, leading to more responsive customer service
• Improved relationships with customers and upstream suppliers
• Improved end-customer operations – driving more future business

 Combining these elements of automation and customer service can be game changing. Mobile data collection can give you complete visibility into where your orders are in the process of being picked, packed, or shipped. This can eliminate orders being lost in the warehouse…and it can also provide visibility into where the order is before it arrives at the customer’s home.

Choosing Hardware for Your Environment

Why is it important to have a dedicated hardware partner on your WMS implementation project? Having a dedicated hardware team can help you make hard decisions – and then help you maintain those decisions after the hardware is live in your warehouse. 

One of the first decisions that you will need to make is what kind of hardware you will utilize for mobile scanning. The initial distinction to make would be between consumer and ruggedized devices. Depending on your environment, you may be able to get away with a consumer device – which is essentially a smart phone that has been mounted to a scanning gun (you also see consumer tablets with some scanning capabilities as well). These devices are often used in retail environments where light scanning is required. They are usually not intended to work well in very extreme or harsh environments.

Is a Rugged Device Right for You?

A rugged device, on the other hand, are designed to withstand extreme temperatures, dirt, and potential drops. They have a longer life expectancy than consumer devices, simply because they can withstand more bumps and bruises by design. Additionally, rugged devices may have an option for buttons and keys. Consumer devices are typically touchscreen, which can be difficult to use in environments where the person scanning must wear gloves. There are a couple of other important factors to keep in mind with a rugged device: battery life and long-range scanning.

Battery Life

Rugged devices are designed with longer lasting batteries than a consumer device. Think about it: consumer devices are not designed with the intention to run apps and scan barcodes for long periods of time. It drains the battery life quickly. To charge a consumer device, it must be plugged in because the battery is not removable. Rugged devices are equipped with long lasting batteries that can be removed and replaced – reducing downtime. There is never a need to dock a device in the middle of a shift with a rugged device.

Long-Range Scanning

The other major consideration is long-range scanning. Long-range scanning simply means the ability to scan from far away. This is an important feature in warehouses with high racking or vertical storage. Instead of getting on a high-rise to scan, the rugged scanner can simply be adjusted to scan at long-range, saving the time and effort of moving heavy machinery to scan. This is not an option with a consumer device.

While consumer devices might appear less expensive in the long run, their life expectancy coupled with other factors such as battery life and long-range scanning capability may not make them the best option for your facility.

What is Automation?

 In our last post, we discussed automated data collection. But did you know that the warehouse automation goes beyond just mobile barcode scanning? The world of automation is full of imagination – the sky is the limit. Automation customers have implemented everything from a simply conveyor belt to drones that fly over the warehouse to count inventory. In this post, we will cover what automation is, common uses of automation, and how to integrate automation with your ERP.

Perceptions of Automation

Some customers think that automation is synonymous with “automatic.” While some forms of automation do automatically trigger tasks to be done or labels to be printed, others simply follow the dictionary.com definition of “reducing human intervention.” At it’s core, automation is about working smarter and not harder. By that definition, WMS is a form of automation. Let’s look at some other ways automation customers are using technology in their warehouse.

Warehouse Control System (WCS) & Programmable Logic Controller (PLC)

A WCS is a software application for orchestrating activity flow within the warehouse. They are used in conjunction with a WMS. These are commonly associated with warehouse automation, such as a conveyor system. A PLC is an industrial digital computer which has been ruggedized and adapted for the control of manufacturing processes, such as an assembly line or robotic device.

Conveyor Systems

Conveyor systems are mechanical devices that transport materials. There are many different types of conveyor systems, but they usually consists of a frame, rollers, wheels, and a belt. Conveyor systems are an efficient way to move materials or even pallets of finished goods from place to place. One major benefit of this technology is that it can reduce injuries caused by lifting or manually transporting inventory. When used in tandem with a WMS, scanners can be placed on the conveyor system that scan the inventory and automatically update the ERP in real time – saving time and increasing inventory accuracy.

Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS)

An ASRS is a type of warehouse automation specifically designed to store and retrieve product and inventory on demand. ASRS is a blanket term that can consist of equipment like picking cranes, carousels, or vertical lifts. The benefits of ASRS include more efficient use of floor space (since the automation typically stores inventory vertically), reduced labor costs, and increased order picking accuracy. When used with a WMS, ASRS can be optimized to pick efficiently. Essentially, the WMS will determine the picking tasks and most efficient picking paths for the ASRS to deliver inventory to the picker.

What is Automated Data Collection?

When you think of automation in a warehouse, your thoughts might go automatically to an Amazon warehouse full of robot helpers. Truthfully, some of the automation that is available for warehouses these days is something straight out of a sci-fi film. In his Ted Talk, Markus Mutz describes using RFID technology to track the movement of seafood through each phase of the supply chain, and how in doing so, supply chains are becoming more transparent.

Supply Chain transparency is certainly becoming more important. Now more than ever, warehouse workers are being asked to do more work with the same amount of people. There’s a way to increase accuracy and visibility in your warehouse – and you don’t need a robot to do it.

What is Automated Data Collection?

Automated data collection refers to the process of automatically extracting data from paper forms through the use of software. Automated data collection can replace manual data entry – which is often slow and error prone. It also updates your data in real-time, so you don’t have to wait weeks for someone to enter backlogged numbers into an excel spreadsheet.

Automated data collection sometimes goes by different names, such as inventory management. In healthcare environments it might be called materials management. Essentially, it’s using a barcode scanner to scan information on a barcode to update to your ERP in real-time. No matter what you call it, it will help you save time and money.

How can I get started?

To implement automated data collection, you need three things: an ERP system, a WMS, and mobile handhelds to scan with.

Step one is to choose your ERP. Your implementation partner can direct you to a warehouse management system that will integrate into your ERP. We recommend that you choose a WMS that is built on the ERP. Not only does this increase the compatibility of your WMS and ERP, but it will likely mirror the ERP interface, which will reduce training time due to familiarity. Finally, you will need to choose the mobile scanner that will best meet your needs. If you choose a WMS like RF-SMART, they have a dedicated hardware team that can help you pick out the best hardware for your environment.

Why Use Barcodes in a Warehouse Environment?

According to Barcodes Inc, the technical definition for a barcode is a machine-readable form of information on a scannable, visual surface. Barcodes are read using a scanner that can read the information the barcode contains.

When you think of a place you might see a barcode, you’re probably thinking of a retail environment like the grocery store. However, if you look closely, you’ll find that barcodes are everywhere – and they aren’t just for checking out at Walmart. In this post, we will talk about the different types of barcodes, how they are used in a warehouse environment, and how the data they contain can benefit your supply chain.

Types of Barcodes

There are many types of barcodes that you might use depending on your environment or the scanners that you have available. For our purposes, we will break them into two groups: one dimensional and two dimensional barcodes.

One Dimensional (1D)

The barcodes are most commonly recognized are known as one dimensional barcodes. The length of a one-dimensional barcode is directly tied to how much information it holds. Users of these barcodes must limit their characters to between 8 and 15.

Included in the one dimensional barcode family are UPC and EAN, which are found most often in retail environments. UPC stands for “universal product code.” The numbers contained within the code can help workers identify specific product characteristics, such as size. These little codes pack a lot of information, and they not only make checking out easy, they also serve as a tracking number as the product is moved around a warehouse facility.

Two Dimensional (2D)

Two-dimensional barcodes represent data using two-dimensional symbols and shapes. Two dimensional barcodes are newer, and less common. They usually represent more data than a one dimensional barcode. According to Scandit, “another key advantage of 2D barcodes is their error-protection formulas. These codes are designed to keep data intact and scannable—even after being ripped, scratched or damaged. This feature makes 2D barcodes uniquely suited to more intense, fast-paced scanning applications.”

QR codes are among the types of two dimensional barcodes that are common. They are versatile and most smartphones include a QR scanning feature. There are many websites that offer free QR code generators. Their low price point (free) has certainly contributed to their popularity, especially for things like advertising and marketing. However, they are not very common in warehouses as most industrial scanners only read one dimensional barcodes.

How to Use Barcodes in a Warehouse Environment

First, we always recommend working with a supply chain expert that can help you identify the best hardware and labels to use for your environment. One common use cases for barcodes is on the product itself and on the bins or racking that the item is stored on.

For example, if you are a warehouse worker that is going to pick inventory, you’d be given a pick slip with the items on it that you need to retrieve. In the simplest version of this scenario, you would take your barcode scanner and scan the pick slip. The data from the barcode on the pick slip will then direct you to a bin or location where you would pick that item. Depending on your set up, once you arrive that that location, you would scan the barcode on the item or location to verify that you have picked the right item. Your WMS will then verify that you’ve picked the correct item. Overall, using a barcode scanner will reduce mis-picks and increase labor productivity.

 

 

How Does the Barcode Work with my ERP?

Once the item is picked, the mobile scanner is going to send a message back to your ERP and tell it that that inventory has been picked and is no longer available. A mobile data collection system provides full visibility into your inventory, because the barcode scanner is updating your ERP in real-time. You always know what you have on hand and what you need to replenish, saving you time and money.