Challenge:
A solution to organise recurring logistics processes as efficiently as possible.
Description:
Inventory management in collaboration with ERP supplier Xperthis; ERP at PC level, mobile terminal with PHI DATA IDhospitalsupply software, which is connected to the central ERP system (SAP). There are a total of 10-15 users.
Solution:
Handheld scanners with IDhospitalsupply software.
Results:
Faster way of working and more efficient internal logistics
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Like most hospitals, AZ Maria Middelares in Ghent has to supply the storage rooms of the patient wards at regular intervals. In the storage rooms are shelves with trays, which hold everything the nursing staff use on a daily basis: from plastic cups, bandages and plasters, to sterile goods and printed material.
Until 2013 the inventory management was carried out manually. Warehouse workers would walk to a dozen wards in the hospital to check which non-sterile products needed to be replenished in the storage room. As soon as a tray was empty, the worker would note this information in his laptop, which was connected to the central ERP system. In the warehouse he would see which products needed to be collected, to replenish the empty shelves during his next visit to the ward.
This way of working was very time consuming and due to the manual input also error-prone. Therefore, the AZ searched for a solution to organise these recurring logistics operations as efficiently as possible. After all, in 2014 and 2015 Maria Middelares would expand this supply method to some thirty wards; and not just for the non-sterile, but also for sterile goods.
PHI DATA introduced a barcode system for the identification of the wards and the individual items. These are registered via handheld scanners with tailor-made software. Per scan a text file is generated, which is read in the central administrative ERP system via a USB connection to a PC. If a shelf is empty, the warehouse worker scans the barcode of the shelf, and that code is loaded into the ERP system. In doing so, the warehouse workers know quickly and without errors which ward needs which products.
“The new way of working is much more efficient”, says Bart Claus, distribution employee at AZ Maria Middelares. “The major advantage is that hardly any mistakes are made anymore, as we no longer have to enter the information manually. Not only is the margin of error greatly reduced, it also gains us a lot of time – up to 2 to 3 hours per day.”
“We chose PHI DATA as it was very convenient that they could deliver both the hardware (the handheld scanners) and the software (on the scanners)”, Bart Claus adds. “We are very satisfied with the solution and plan to extend it in the future with other possibilities such as the compilation of inventory and the automatic calculation of consumption.”
