Supernova Award Category

The Problem

Sanford Health, because of this vast network of care facilities, has a very complex supply chain. Operating with a promise of “reliable first, efficient always” became increasingly difficult the larger the health provider’s network became. Those overseeing Sanford Health’s supply chain were focused on reviewing reorder points, trying to find a way in which to confidently change their system that contained a large amount of data at one time. The organization did not want to move information piece by piece, rather, wanted to move all data as one holistic piece into a new application that could better predict product availability and reorder points. Doing so would alleviate the issues associated with having too little on hand to accommodate lead time for the organization’s supply chain. 

The Solution

Decision makers at Sanford Health partnered with Infor’s team of data scientists in order to create an application that would streamline the reorder processes to meet the growing demands of the organization’s many facilities. Data scientists took information that Sanford Health had and consolidated it into a single application that would assess partners with reorder points. The result is use of Inventory Intelligence for Healthcare. The team’s approach to the problem was to first build the automated, science driven solution, being sure that the science is accessible and easy to use. This application frees up users to focus on other important problems while helping to build trust between the supply chain team and clinicians. 

The results

At Sanford Health, Inventory Intelligence for Healthcare is still very much in the testing phase. The organization, along with the team of data scientists at Infor, is still determining the input phase and working on adjusting the application in order to report the most accurate information as efficiently as possible. Thus far, Rial Stedman, Director of Inventory Management at Sanford Health, is the only person to really have work on the application. However, the first data pull that was completed has shown a reduction in average inventory dollar amount on hand. This is projected to continue as the application is utilized more widely throughout the organization. 

Metrics

In just 4 months of using Inventory Intelligence for Healthcare, Sanford Health has saved $128,000. Similar savings are predicted as the organization continues to use the application to better predict supply chain needs. With the second run of results, Sanford Health is hoping to see a continued improvement in processes and continued savings. The end goal the organization has set is to have zero outs and to be able to make confident and informed reordering decisions backed by science and analytics. In 2014, average outs could range anywhere from 115 to 30.3, and anywhere in between, making for an unpredictable and unreliable method of managing the supply chain. In 2015, those numbers had significantly decreased and continued to do so into the early months of 2016. Sanford Health expects to see continued savings, similar to those shown in their first data pull after using Inventory Intelligence for Healthcare. 

The Technology

Inventory Intelligence for Healthcare

Disruptive Factor

During the implementation there was, thankfully, not much disruption. Everything involving the implementation or use of the application has been consolidated to one warehouse location to minimize any disruption throughout the healthcare network.

Inventory Intelligence for Healthcare has been and will continue to be a good tool for monitoring inventory levels. Much of the work from Infor’s data science team will be utilized to give Sanford Health information about their business and insights on how they can further improve business operations, customer satisfaction and product availability. 

Shining Moment

Some shining moments of the implementation and use of Inventory Intelligence for Healthcare have been the interaction with the application itself, coming up with inputs for the application, finding solutions to meet specific business needs, getting all of the data consolidated into one application, and  having increased confidence in decision making without having to do extensive assessment.