As I continue to examine our distribution process, I look to industry leaders and analysts for direction. I recently reviewed a blog post by Khudsiya Quadri.In “Can you bring cost down through better inventory management?”, Quadri provides specific points that drive every day processes and long term solutions within the supply chain. The most influential [...]
Our work at the Dispensary of Hope is pretty unique. As such, we have no real industry benchmarks to govern our operations. In order for us to evaluate our current and future performance, we must first quantify our past performance. The Dispensary of Hope is equipped with a first-class program for capturing [...]
Sounds like a simple question. I have been asked this question many times during my adult life. Until I joined the Dispensary of Hope, it was a pretty quick answer: “I am an ‘x’ for ‘y’ company.” To which, I would hear responses, “That’s nice” or “Sounds fun” or “I bet you get a great [...]
Over the last fifteen years, I have worked with companies and organizations that thrived in their specific industry. Their success was founded in a strong strategic plan and they employed qualified individuals to carry out that plan.
In my first role as a manager, I quickly realized that Coach Warren (my 8th grade basketball coach) was [...]
Our January 2009 numbers are in. We distributed over $355,000 worth of medication! This was the largest month for distribution at the Dispensary of Hope and an increase of 54% over December 2008. Over the last seven months, we have seen our distribution increase more than 170%.
As the Distribution Manager and having experience in the [...]
I was reading an article in the Supply & Demand-Chain Executive, Dec 2008/Jan 2009, titled “Healthcare Tightens Its Belt”. In the article, the author relates that “As the economic downturn continues, hospitals turn to their supply chains as a way to cut costs while maintaining patient care.” The idea balancing cost and care is basic [...]
To be successful in any type of business or industry, one must provide a service or product for which someone has a need. At the Dispensary of Hope, we provide for dispensing sites that have a need for medication. Those dispensing sites, in turn, provide that medication to the uninsured. In the beginning, we operated [...]
A quick way to assess inventory turnover, is to look at the Dispensary’s product sorting system. We use bins to sort our product flow by bins. Inbound items arrive in a red bin and outgoing items leave in a blue bin. The Dispensary’s distribution team is beginning to see that the blue bins are approaching a number equal to red bins. This means that we are closing the gap between the quantities of medications dispensed versus quantities donated.
