Stocking philosophy

I am transitioning into a new Role of the Storeroom (Distribution) manager. Currently there is no set standard or philosophy for things like: how many days on hand they would like to have in our main storeroom, or on the nursing floors, how often the floors are counted and replenished, etc. Is anyone willing to share with me how you handle these things?

Also, leadership is wanting us to move to a Kan-Ban process. If anyone has experience with it, I would also appreciate any tips or warnings.

Thanks in advance!

jonathan.alden@mymlc.com

0712131256598360.doc

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Comments

pam-gallahar

Jonathan, not knowing your experience level, business model or anything else in any detail I will offer the following: 1. You really need to understand your current situation, i.e. how many days on hand today at each stocking location, the value of the inventory. 2. What is your current replenishment model, i.e. how often are you counting, picking and replenishing the floors. 3. Is the current model working, i.e. are you having a lot of emergency picks/orders. You then need to sit with your leadership team to include finance and understand the strategic direction you want to take from a service and financial position. Do you have a lot of excess inventory you are not using, are your par levels accurate, do you have expense concerns where you need to look at your labor due to budgeting, cost reduction initiatives, etc. Understanding these goals will help you determine what you can do from a supply/replenishment project. Regarding the Kan-Ban process; you need to understand all of the above before moving to that model. There are some good articles on the internet if you want to look into the process deeper. I have not personally implemented any but have heard from several people that the process works well for their needs. But you need to know where you are starting from first and measure any changes to understand the benefits.

Lee Ferketic
lferketic@summithealth.org

unknown

Lee and all,

Thanks for the response.

The current supply 'thought' (not in writing by my predecessor) is to have 2 weeks days on hand supply on the par if possible, yet most pars are counted daily. This of course leads to little or no stock outs, but is labor and supply heavy. Before I made changes, I thought it wise to see what others were doing. I have also queried our prime stocking suppliers for information.

I understand there are a large number of variables that play into par stocking supply days on hand as well as storeroom supply days on hand. I am also dealing with leadership that has come from outside of the Medical setting who understand stocking for manufacturing predetermined levels. What I am hoping to gain from the group is an idea of the variety of stocking levels days on hand used in their main storeroom and pars, not getting into the weeds of Kan-ban, EOQ, forecasting, etc.

unknown

In 2006 we built a Central Supply so this is dated and relying on me translating my notes. Take with a grain of salt.

We took the nursing unit bed count and established what they would need per item if EVERY patient on the unit was using it for a day. For the most part this was more than would actually fit on their shelves so the nurse manager and the stock room worked out the priorities - what's only used on some patients, etc.

That was loaded and ran as a par valuation and given to the CFOs. And then more adjustments made.

From there, the par levels in the stock room were adjusted - at that point, the CFO had signed off on it so the justification at month end was easy.

It was, of course, much, much more painful to implement and the stock room still goes through and adjusts the pars with the nurse managers.

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