Customer focus delivers logistics service improvements

As pandemic restrictions within Victoria’s public health system begin to ease, HSV’s Logistics function is boosting customer engagement by visiting hospitals and hosting customer visits at the Derrimut Distribution Centre (DC).

“In addition to our fortnightly meetings, we’re spending more time visiting customers onsite to make sure they’re receiving the service they expect. This makes it easier to address issues directly with the relevant people,” says HSV Director Logistics Armin Odobasic.

The visits are being coordinated by HSV’s Customer Engagement team and help HSV to upgrade services and develop uniform standards that can be applied across the state.

“It allows us to be clear and understand what our customers need so we can better align our operations,” says Armin.

HSV’s logistics team has already made several improvements in response to customer feedback including giving hospitals the option to combine multiple orders of sterile supplies and equipment into one shipment.

“We’ve created a more efficient system for the delivery of cleanroom supplies. Our customers aren’t wasting time trying to find crucial items on different pallets,” says Armin.

The team has also introduced a box labelling system to ensure delivery locations are clearly marked, reducing the number of calls to HSV’s customer service team.

The onsite visits have helped HSV to align deliveries with timeframes that worked best for customers.

“We’re able to get a better understanding of the customer and how we can improve their experience with us,” says Armin.

In addition to a visit to the Royal Children’s Hospital, the team met with customers onsite at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, Royal Melbourne Hospital and Western Health.

“The information we have gathered has helped us standardise our procedures so we can implement improvements across the board for the benefit of all our customers,” says Armin.  

As HSV prepares to expand operations to other public health services across the state, we will host further visits from existing and potential customers in the coming months.

“By visiting us here, our customers get a better understanding of the scope of our operations as well as more context around what we do. We also continue to build the relationship so if they have a concern, they know who to contact,” says Armin.

Austin Health was the first health service to visit the DC as part of preliminary discussions to onboard part of their supply chain delivery.

Austin Health’s Director Procurement and Supply Matthew Smith says the team had questions about how the model would work, the value it would drive and the steps Austin Health would need to take for a successful transition.

“Santo Cavaleri (Head of Customer Operations), Armin Odobasic (Director: Logistics), John Stewart (Head of Performance and Insights) and their teams went to great lengths to make sure all of our questions were answered, which gave us incredible confidence that the transition of services would be as smooth as possible,” says Matthew. 

“The setup is very professional and impressive and we look forward to working with HSV over the coming months to implement the service.”