STRYKER OSTEOSYNTHESIS: Achieving Operational and Supply Chain Excellence
Customer Company Size
Large Corporate
Region
- Europe
- Asia
- America
Country
- Germany
- Switzerland
- Japan
- Sweden
- United States
Product
- i-Supply™
Tech Stack
- Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI)
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Cost Savings
- Productivity Improvements
- Customer Satisfaction
Technology Category
- Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms
Applicable Industries
- Healthcare & Hospitals
Applicable Functions
- Logistics & Transportation
- Warehouse & Inventory Management
Use Cases
- Inventory Management
- Supply Chain Visibility
Services
- System Integration
About The Customer
Stryker Osteosynthesis is a division of Stryker Corporation and a provider of reconstructive, trauma and spinal products in the medical technology industry. Since 1941, Stryker has grown to a position of global leadership in the $35.6 billion orthopedic market, providing a range of products that improve medical professionals’ and patients’ lives in more than 120 countries. Orthopedic disease and trauma affect millions of people each year and through state-of-the-art products, simplified surgical techniques and improved hospital efficiencies, Stryker is developing cost-effective solutions and improving people’s lives worldwide.
The Challenge
Stryker Osteosynthesis, a provider of reconstructive, trauma and spinal products in the medical technology industry, was facing challenges in managing its supply chain. The company was struggling with high expectations from customers requiring 24/7 service levels on practically all product offerings, volatility in demand, aligning supply to demand in an ever-changing supply chain, and ensuring suppliers have timely visibility of requirements. The company was also facing issues with inventory quality and delays in product availability. Without strong supply chain visibility, Stryker was unable to optimize its operational effectiveness and efficiencies. The company was experiencing the bullwhip effect, which stems from incorrect forecasts and created additional supply chain challenges. Stryker’s operational efficiency suffered from inconsistent inbound/outbound performance and manufacturing loads, hindering the company’s ability to operate a stable, uniform-capacity load required for optimized process efficiencies.
The Solution
Stryker decided to focus more on the company’s suppliers and distribution centers and less on its branches and the end customers. The company evaluated several prospective Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) tools, and ultimately decided that partnering with TradeBeam and its i-Supply inventory management solution was the best choice due to its real-time visibility and single tool/view offering. In 2006, Stryker deployed TradeBeam’s i-Supply solution among three production sites, two in Germany and one in Switzerland. These production sites started together with Stryker’s distribution center in Japan, enabling the distribution center to use just one VMI tool to collaborate with the three production sites. Stryker went live with i-Supply with its first supplier in 2007 and added two more suppliers by the year’s end.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
Case Study missing?
Start adding your own!
Register with your work email and create a new case study profile for your business.
Related Case Studies.
Case Study
Hospital Inventory Management
The hospital supply chain team is responsible for ensuring that the right medical supplies are readily available to clinicians when and where needed, and to do so in the most efficient manner possible. However, many of the systems and processes in use at the cancer center for supply chain management were not best suited to support these goals. Barcoding technology, a commonly used method for inventory management of medical supplies, is labor intensive, time consuming, does not provide real-time visibility into inventory levels and can be prone to error. Consequently, the lack of accurate and real-time visibility into inventory levels across multiple supply rooms in multiple hospital facilities creates additional inefficiency in the system causing over-ordering, hoarding, and wasted supplies. Other sources of waste and cost were also identified as candidates for improvement. Existing systems and processes did not provide adequate security for high-cost inventory within the hospital, which was another driver of cost. A lack of visibility into expiration dates for supplies resulted in supplies being wasted due to past expiry dates. Storage of supplies was also a key consideration given the location of the cancer center’s facilities in a dense urban setting, where space is always at a premium. In order to address the challenges outlined above, the hospital sought a solution that would provide real-time inventory information with high levels of accuracy, reduce the level of manual effort required and enable data driven decision making to ensure that the right supplies were readily available to clinicians in the right location at the right time.
Case Study
Gas Pipeline Monitoring System for Hospitals
This system integrator focuses on providing centralized gas pipeline monitoring systems for hospitals. The service they provide makes it possible for hospitals to reduce both maintenance and labor costs. Since hospitals may not have an existing network suitable for this type of system, GPRS communication provides an easy and ready-to-use solution for remote, distributed monitoring systems System Requirements - GPRS communication - Seamless connection with SCADA software - Simple, front-end control capability - Expandable I/O channels - Combine AI, DI, and DO channels
Case Study
Driving Digital Transformations for Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices
Diagnostic devices play a vital role in helping to improve healthcare delivery. In fact, an estimated 60 percent of the world’s medical decisions are made with support from in vitrodiagnostics (IVD) solutions, such as those provided by Roche Diagnostics, an industry leader. As the demand for medical diagnostic services grows rapidly in hospitals and clinics across China, so does the market for IVD solutions. In addition, the typically high cost of these diagnostic devices means that comprehensive post-sales services are needed. Wanteed to improve three portions of thr IVD:1. Remotely monitor and manage IVD devices as fixed assets.2. Optimizing device availability with predictive maintenance.3. Recommending the best IVD solution for a customer’s needs.
Case Study
HaemoCloud Global Blood Management System
1) Deliver a connected digital product system to protect and increase the differentiated value of Haemonetics blood and plasma solutions. 2) Improve patient outcomes by increasing the efficiency of blood supply flows. 3) Navigate and satisfy a complex web of global regulatory compliance requirements. 4) Reduce costly and labor-intensive maintenance procedures.
Case Study
Cloud-based healthcare solution for Royal Philips
Royal Philips wanted to launch its cloud-based healthcare solution HealthSuite Digital Platform in China to deliver services to help cope with challenges related to urbanization and population growth. Philips wanted to achieve this goal by combining mobile, cloud computing and big data technologies. To bring this platform and product to market, Philips required cloud computing and local technical service capabilities in China, in addition to a flexible IT infrastructure that could handle user requests.
