Update Your Hospital’s Antiquated Technology and Outdated Processes to Reduce Costs
The pressure on hospitals to reduce operating costs is rising. In order to cut costs, hospitals are being forced to look at ways to install more efficient systems to manage their healthcare facilities. One of the areas that can make a significant improvement to a hospital’s efficiency and operating costs is the supply chain. Horizontal Carousels storage systems will lean out wasted time and money in your current processes by increasing picking accuracy, improving productivity and saving space. Horizontal Carousels help hospitals improve their overall operating efficiencies in supply chain distribution. Click here to learn more about the 5 key benefits of horizontal carousels.
How the Horizontal Carousels Work for Hospital Supply Chain Distribution
Horizontal Carousels are usually installed in two or more units (pod) to provide maximum throughput. The Horizontal Carousels work together in a pod to create high speed hospital logistics picking, tracking, and distribution. Supply storage bins are mounted on an oval track that rotates horizontally to deliver medical supplies to a picking operator. Using the Horizontal Carousel pod design allows an operator to pick medical supplies from one active carousel while the other carousel is positioning for the next pick. When Horizontal Carousels are combined with pick-to-light technology, the operator is directed to the exact location of each pick, which will improve accuracy rates up to 99.9%.
The Horizontal Carousel’s software can be organized for batch picking of medical supplies to further enhance picking times and productivity. This can be achieved when two or more horizontal carousels are used in an integrated workstation with software and pick-to-light technology. Batch picking allows an operator to pick multiple orders at one time, increasing productivity up to 2/3.
An Example of Using Horizontal Carousels for Hospital Supply Chain Distribution
A children’s hospital installed three Horizontal Carousels with pick-to-light technology and FastPic batch order processing software for its supply chain distribution. Since the integration of the Horizontal Carousels, the materials management stockroom fills orders within 2 hours of receipt, picking and delivering over 141,000 items a day.
An important feature of the Horizontal Carousel system is it occupies approximately 42% less floor space than the previous storage system and is operated with just one order picker. Before the carousels were installed, the hospital required 8 order pickers and orders took 10 times longer to fill. With the exception of scheduled parts and maintenance on the carousels, the hospital has had 100% uptime. (watch video to learn more about the Horizontal Carousels at the children’s hospital)
Contact Us for More Information On Horizontal Carousels
Southwest Solutions Group® provides design, installation, maintenance, and relocation services for Horizontal Carousels on Vizient contract. Contact us today by phone at 1-800-803-1083 or send us a message to speak with a representative about using Horizontal Carousels to reduce supply chain costs in your hospital.
