Medireva optimises inventory to maximise customer service

As the business continued to enjoy consistent growth, keeping control of the inventory became an increasingly complicated undertaking for the team at MediReva. With Slim4, the business was able to achieve huge reductions in inventory costs. Furthermore, the time required to manage the rapidly expanding assortment has been halved while service levels have continued to increase. This in turn has delivered a multitude of benefits for the medical supplier, whose main focus is on its customers.

As one of the leading specialist medical suppliers in The Netherlands, service is the number 1 priority for MediReva. Alfred van den Berg, Head of Purchasing explains: “there is a reason that we say we are a ‘specialised supplier’ and not a wholesaler. At MediReva, we go beyond just ‘shifting’ products: we offer a complete package which also includes our own nursing care.” Supplying consumers across the Netherlands with disposables such as feeding, colostomy, diabetes and mouth care products also accounts for a large part of their offering.

“Our focus is always on the customer and as a result, out of stocks are not an option for us,” says van den Berg. Given that the number of SKUs in their assortment has doubled in the last two years, finding ways to streamline the inventory management processes was essential: “As a result of this growth, it was becoming more and more difficult to manage the inventories.”

Time savings of up to 50%

With Slimstock’s inventory optimisation software Slim4, MediReva were able to regain control over their fast-growing inventories. “Before we started using the tool, our ERP system, MS Dynamics NAV, generated order advices without considering any of the statistics. We had to rely on the knowledge and gut-feeling of our people. On a daily basis, a team of employees had to control all of the articles: a time-consuming task which was subjected to a high risk of errors.” Through utilising the management by exception principle of Slim4, the implementation has achieved time savings of up to 50%.

10% reduction in backorders

With help from Slim4, MediReva is now better positioned to manage articles with irregular demand patterns. Through optimising inventories levels, the business can ensure the right amount of stock is available at the right time. “This wasn’t a goal in itself, but by taking a smarter approach to managing the inventory, our costs have decreased without harming our service levels. In fact, our service levels have actually increased. Furthermore, the number of back orders, which was already very low, has decreased by a further 10 percent and stock-outs are now a thing of the past,” explains van den Berg.

Greater insight better positions Medireva for tenders

When applying for new tenders with big health insurance companies, MediReva can rely on Slim4 to ensure that extra inventories are added in an optimal way. As a result of this more proactive approach to order management, lead times have been reduced by 50 percent and stock levels have been reduced considerably.

“When looking at our logistics processes, the benefits of Slim4 become clear. For example, there is less handling of goods as we no longer have to split orders and re-pack boxes into other boxes of different sizes. Also, our suppliers now deliver in bulk on specific days, meaning our administration processes have also become far more efficient,” concludes a satisfied van den Berg.