ALISO VIEJO, Calif., Dec. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- LifeServe Blood Centers has received the Envi® Best Practice Award for excellence in item master and inventory management. As Envi team members work with supply chain leaders across the U.S., they have ongoing opportunities to recognize those successfully creating and implementing new best practice processes. LifeServe Blood Centers is being recognized for their enterprise-wide supply chain improvements, which have resulted in significant increases in automation and visibility, and led to reductions in staff time, costs, overstocking and stock-outs, and waste.
As the sole provider of blood to more than 130 local hospitals in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota, LifeServe operates in 15 locations, with the main corporate office in Des Moines and a secondary office in Sioux City; both of these facilities have full warehouses.
Improving Data, Automating Processes and Building Visibility
Prior to implementing Envi, LifeServe's supply chain was based on manual processes. The item master existed in Excel files, and often contained data inconsistencies that made it difficult to identify duplicate or obsolete items. A cross-functional team recognized the need to make improvements to both item master and order management processes, as well as supply consumption tracking.
"From the beginning of our implementation, the most important thing we've done is drive change management," said Kim Schaaf, director of Facilities, Purchasing & Fleet for LifeServe. "Once we built our enterprise item master in Envi, we built templates for buyers in different parts of the organization, making it easy for them to find the products they need. When they create a requisition, our team sends what they need from one of two central warehouses, and manages any actual reordering that's needed. If the clinical team wants to add new items to the formulary, we've built great communication processes so they can advise us of what they need, and we can get the right items added correctly to the item master, from the right vendor, at the right price."
"With Envi, we've improved our processes from requisitioning through consumption. When a team member goes into a storage location to remove supplies, they can scan what they're taking with a scanner. With all supplies in our item master, barcode scanning lets us instantly know what's been used and where we may need to restock. We now have great visibility to inventory."
Finally to ensure end-to-end alignment, Schaaf's team works with accounting, providing access to accurate information on receipts and packing slips on incoming supplies, with full visibility to purchasing and consumption data. Schaaf concluded, "We've created processes to allow us to manage supplies at appropriate levels, virtually eliminating overstocking and stock-outs, and keeping ordering processes efficient and accurate. We pay consistent prices for items throughout our organization, and have reduced the amount of time spent on order management – we probably spend half the time we used to."
LifeServe Best Practice Highlights:
- Single, enterprise-wide approved formulary
- Functionally-specific buyer templates that make requisitioning easy for staff
- Inventory usage processes, ensuring items are scanned as they're removed from supply locations
- Ongoing item master management to add new items and prices accurately
- Continual supply management with Envi usage reports
- Accurate min/max levels based on history, market-specific activities (i.e., blood drives)
"We are honored to recognize the team at LifeServe Blood Centers for their end-to-end supply chain improvements," said Steve Britt, Senior Vice President, Envi. "Sometimes an organization will focus on a single, specific area they want to address. Kim Schaaf and her team used their Envi implementation as an opportunity to revisit and revitalize their overall processes, and worked with everyone from their clinical team throughout finance, making improvements literally from 'req-to-check'. This Best Practice Award recognizes the team for their commitment to ongoing improvement, enterprise-wide change management and their advancement of supply chain automation."
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About Envi®
Envi is a complete procure-to-pay software solution that uncovers savings through a customized formulary built from GPO and local contracts. Based on an organization's specific needs, services can include procurement experts and analysts ready to help automate inventory management and purchasing operations. Additionally, advanced analytics make it easy to decode supply, financial and operational data to continuously reduce costs. With Envi, healthcare organizations gain unprecedented control, automation and visibility into the full scope of their supply chain. For more information, visit http://www.envi.com.
Media Contact
Cheryl Flury, Inventory Optimization Solutions (IOS), +1 3035642158, [email protected]
Amy Naramore, 9492075944, [email protected]
SOURCE LifeServe Blood Center
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