Healthcare Embraces E-commerce Trends
A colleague of mine, John Reichert, was recently interviewed by Modern Material Handling for the article Health Care Embraces E-commerce Trends. The article puts a spotlight and how much supply chain practices in healthcare have changed in the past five to ten years, and how far they have come. Historically, the margins in this specialized industry have compensated for lack of advanced supply chain capabilities. Now, though, the industry is no longer standing still, what with increasing pressures on margins, more stringent traceability requirements, and higher customer demands.
As customer demands create a convergence between healthcare and e-commerce, it is tempting to simply apply the latest e-commerce capabilities to this very different industry. However, lots of uncertainty exists in emerging trends as healthcare comes to grips with the regulatory requirements of DSCSA and UID within the US and global variants.
The article's author, Josh Bond, explains, "Pharmaceutical companies—or any of the increasing number of companies handling any supplement that requires licensing or temperature requirements—have to contend with the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA). Passed in 2013, the act imposes incremental deadlines through 2023 for the capture and management of transaction details through the supply chain."
In seeking out expertise to guide folks into the future, organizations will need to carefully evaluate their partners in the journey.
“Nobody wants to invest money in things that might not be ideal in a couple of years,” Reichert says. “This is another parallel with materials handling trends in general; they need the ability to quickly and cost-effectively adapt systems to change. Automation is becoming more flexible and relocatable, like autonomous mobile robots. Data collection requirements will change so automated software systems will also need to be able to adapt and integrate with new technologies.”
Done judiciously, this shift can translate into bottom line gains:
Parkview turns more than $17 million of annual expenses into revenue
Much like the era of Y2K panic, newly educated ‘experts’ may flood the market, based on limited experience and knowledge, to help companies cope with change. The most successful healthcare-focused organizations will start their journey early to create advanced supply chain capabilities before the need becomes critical — and will do so in a strong partnership with others in the industry.
Read more about how healthcare industry is moving to centralization and user-driven technologies to meet these challenges.
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