Achieving optimum levels of stock availability plays a critical role in ensuring community equipment loan supplies are there exactly when they are needed to help keep people safe and independent in their own homes, as well as supporting timely hospital discharges. In the first six months of 2024, Medequip achieved a stock availability figure of 99.3%, facilitating almost 650,000 deliveries and collections across the country.
To guarantee consistently high levels of stock availability, Medequip operates a professional and experienced procurement team focused on developing and maintaining the processes required to sustain a fast-changing and challenging market scenario. Robust supplier service level agreements (SLAs) are an important part of this, with partners in the supply chain signing up to strict delivery schedules of five working days from date of order.
Excellent working relationships with suppliers and customers help to sustain this momentum. The Medequip team works proactively, reporting weekly to customers on any potential supply chain issues – a process which began in 2019, was embraced wholeheartedly during the COVID years and continues to play an important role in customer communications today.
As a result, Medequip has a strong track record of meeting the different KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) specified by the community equipment services contracts the company manages across the UK, including demanding same day delivery commitments to match hospital discharge requirements.
Medequip is proud to have upheld high stock availability figures in a year which has not been without significant challenges. One global issue which has impacted on businesses worldwide is the ongoing supply chain disruption caused by the Houthi rebel group threat to shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
This has led to many container ships bypassing the Suez canal and taking the longer route around the Cape of Good Hope, resulting in extended lead times and impacts upon container availability and freight costs, as this graph clearly demonstrates.
Source – Drewry (Maritime Research & Consulting Services), July 2024
Medequip continues to work hard to manage these issues by distributing OEM products or providing CTE (Close Technical Equivalent) substitutes. Medequip’s key suppliers have also been heavily impacted by challenges to product availability and increased costs.
“We are monitoring the situation on a daily basis and have confirmed with our key suppliers that they will also continue to absorb the increases at present,” confirmed Sam Holliman, Head of Supply Chain for Medequip. “We will continue to keep our customers updated on developments.”
Medequip currently holds 170,000 product lines totalling £11M in stock value across 25 community equipment services sites, averaging 6000 activities each and every day.