Automating inventory management with GS1 EDI standards
When a fellow healthcare professional remarked about the German healthcare system on Facebook, the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) decided it was time to take action.
The medical centre considered the situation as a good opportunity to finally address issues that had grown over time: increasing costs, time pressures and regulatory compliance requirements.
UKE issued an invitation to tender for a vendor managed inventory (VMI) solution with the goal of “stock optimisation with readily available supply.” With a VMI, a supplier would assume responsibility for the medical centre’s inventory. Johnson & Johnson Medical GmbH proposed taking “the bull by the horns,” no longer accepting half measures, no more Excel lists and no more manual entry.