Suture Standardization Initiative Improves Ordering and Supply Availability

Northwestern Medicine VP of Supply Chain Distribution & Logistics Mike Hopkins shares how his team aligned on a strategy with a major supplier for streamlined end-to-end suture management that has delivered mutual efficiency gains, order simplification and greater supply chain resiliency. Through cross-functional collaboration, including end-to-end clinical integration, and decisions informed by a dashboard of key SKUs and metrics, they have successfully met their objectives for product standardization, channel consolidation and process optimization, including PO reduction and consolidated shipments. This work has opened the door to greater transparency and proactive backorder communication that has improved supply availability.

Speaker: Mike Hopkins, Vice President, Distribution & Logistics, Northwestern Medicine