PRODUCT & SERVICE LINE REPORTS “Increased usage during
the pandemic was driven by anticipatory need,” Steele noted. “Stockpiling became a proactive measure for many providers but created supply issues for those that lacked space and/or the ability to maintain large inventories.” Labor issues among suppliers of all shapes and sizes represent the next two. “The unpredictable timing and duration of pandemic-related closures and disrup- tions further compounded the instability of an already fragile supply chain,” Steele indicated. Soaring and seemingly uncontrollable demand simply got the best of the industry, according to Rosie Squeo, RN, Senior Clinical Consultant, Business & Clinical Optimization, Cardinal Health.
Corinne Schmid
“When we look back at the challenges disrupting glove supply, we see that healthcare providers sim- ply could not articulate the drivers of demand for their glove usage during the pandemic,” she said. “They just knew they needed signifi cant amounts of product. Similar to the ‘burn rate calculator’ listed as an example for causes for supply chain challenges, we saw mas- sive panic buys from customers in February and March of 2020, which drained onshore, available supply before allocation controls could be installed. This created a bullwhip effect for the supply chain that has been a challenge for the industry to recover from. Initially, demand was almost unlimited, but now, as supply has caught up, we see a saturated market. It’s still diffi cult to estimate when the stockpiles that have been built will bleed down enough for normal procurement patterns to resume.” Consequently, Cardinal Health rolled out a model to mitigate the uncertainty that it calls the Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR) approach. Simply put, Squeo describes CPFR as: • seeking cooperative management of inven- tory through joint visibility and replenish- ment of products throughout the supply chain
Rosie Squeo
• sharing information between suppliers and customers in planning and satisfying customer demands through a supportive system
• allowing for continuous updating of inven- tory and upcoming requirements, making the end-to-end supply chain process more effi cient.
Although Meredith Fantom, Director of Marketing, Exam Gloves division, Medline
Industries, proffers a clear ranking of prob- able causes to glove supply chain challenges, she recognizes that the hierarchy of needs may be a bit more interwoven and less demarcated.
“As the access to raw materials over the past few decades has remained consistent, supplier and distributor challenges with logistics of finished products remain a challenge,” Fantom noted. “Unlike many suppliers and distributors, Medline operates a network of national distribution centers and a fl eet of trucks that enable our company to easily move medical supplies across the country and often deliver within 24 hours.” Investment in information technology helped make a difference, according to Fantom. “Within Medline’s supply chain network, information technology upgrades that enhance visibility and tracking provide transparency into how our customer’s products are moving through our system and combine with the efforts of our onsite analysts embedded within our customer’s organizations to offer an unparalleled understanding of inventory needs, con- sumption and resupply status,” she said. “In smaller organizations, we have partnered with organizations like Hybrent to help
our customers access some of the value our onsite analysts offer by providing visibility into existing inventory, supplies on order and previous orders as well as the ability to order from all vendors in one place. “From our perspective, the lack of vis- ibility into the supply chain exacerbates supplier and vendor distribution challenges, making these two aspects of the healthcare supply chain the most vulnerable, especially for facilities in need of gloves and PPE in the era of COVID,” she added.
But that’s not the leading culprit behind the glove supply chain challenges, Fantom asserts.
The No. 1 issue disrupting glove supply
is behavioral and consumption patterns,” she insisted. “Frequently, facilities order a variety of gloves from various vendors in a variety of sizes without really taking a look at what they use, who is using them and where they are being used. Some facili- ties and organizations don’t have a good handle on whose ordering gloves, the cost of ordering, or what role the glove plays in care delivery.
To illustrate this point, consider a multi- location health facility that is ordering gloves in a decentralized manner with each location ordering a different type of glove,
Probable causes of glove supply disruptions over the decades Ranked by supply chain expert source opinions
1. Supplier/Vendor distribution challenges (e.g., storage; transportation via air, land and sea) 2. Behavioral/consumption patterns (e.g., copious use/overuse and waste from improper handling or use, etc.)
3. Labor issues among manufacturers 4. Labor issues among distributors, service/third-party logistics companies 5. Manufacturer access to raw materials 6. Information technology-related issues (e.g., tracking internal consumption patterns, using a “burn rate calculator,” etc.)
7. Availability of counterfeit products 8. Other, such as market consolidation and larger suppliers forcing smaller suppliers to absorb demand
Potential solutions to glove supply shortages Ranked by supply chain expert source opinions
1. More effective and effi cient use of IT (e.g., for tracking and tracing comprehensive sourcing and consumption/usage data via product data standards adoption and implementation; discovering counterfeit products)
2. Nearshoring production/sourcing opportunities (relying on suppliers/vendors in an adjacent/bordering country)
3. Onshoring production/sourcing opportunities (relying on suppliers/vendors that return manufacturing/ distribution services back to the country from which they originated)
4. Switching manufacturers, distributors or GPOs (e.g., contracting) 5. Domestic production/sourcing opportunities only 6. Backordering and hoarding when and where possible 7. Hospitals and health systems investing in/setting up their own manufacturing and/or distribution companies to serve themselves/each other
8. Other, such as multiple manufacturer product line locations Source: Healthcare Purchasing News, April 2022
hpnonline.com • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS • June 2022 11
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