Informed decisions critical to optimal supply chain management

HSV is building a more efficient and responsive operation, making greater use of reporting and analytics, to drive down costs and improve service delivery for our customers.

“Central to our improved operations is a reliance on data that accurately captures the current level of service our customers are receiving from our contracted suppliers,” says HSV Executive Director Supply Chain Mili Cohen.

“As we set and measure ourselves against our service delivery targets, we work through any potential issues to develop longer term, sustainable improved ways of working, which in turn improves our service for current and future customers,” says Mili.

HSV’s current customers include Melbourne Health, The Royal Women’s Hospital, The Royal Children’s Hospital, The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Western Health and Northern Health, which collectively use approximately 30 per cent of the health-related goods ordered by Victoria’s public hospitals.

“We are in the early stages of developing a practical forecasting process across all categories to better manage purchase order cycles, working capital and distribution centre capacity.

“This function will eventually expand to engage with suppliers and health services to understand usage patterns across all HSV contracted items within the Victorian public health sector,” Mili says.

Key metrics underpinning HSV’s reporting include:

Delivery in Full on Time (DIFOT) – a measure of how often our customers receive the requested quantity of the products they order by the due day.
Supply In Full on Time (SIFOT) – a measure of our suppliers’ ability to do the same with our purchase orders.

We measure supplier performance against contracted expectations and will provide key data back into our procurement-led Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) function as it is established and becomes part of our day-to-day supply chain operations.

HSV’s Logistics team is working to ensure functional alternatives are scoped, priced and potentially contracted, to assure supply of required products.

While this work continues to progress, operations are evolving weekly and regular, targeted reporting supports more informed decision making, which is critical in optimal supply chain management.  

Our Performance and Insights specialists are now producing consistent data that provides clarity on our customer order fill rate, as well as how our suppliers are performing. 

Image caption: Reporting and analytics are being used to provide clarity for our customers and improve our supply chain operations.