The Strategic Marketplace Initiative (SMI) announced six themes that resonated with members during executive exchange sessions last week centered on COVID-19 learnings and best practices.
These sessions were conducted as part of SMI’s Vision 2020 virtual experience, taking place over seven weeks in May and June, which include education, networking and idea exchange between members, collaborators and healthcare supply chain industry experts.
SMI members, all supply chain thought leaders from large healthcare providers, suppliers, manufacturers and distributors shared insights into what worked at their organizations and what improvements and adjustments need to be made as the industry moves to recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through facilitated discussions, members were able to determine six themes that summarize key observations and opportunities for the healthcare supply chain:
1. Supply Chain is in the spotlight
2. Leaders and teams with the skills to adapt quickly can drive transformation
3. Virtual interactions and relationships are here to stay
4. We need to look creatively at the data and analytics available to us and use them differently to support our businesses in a crisis
5. We need new strategies for sourcing to ensure the resilience of our supply chains
6. Collaboration and communication are key success factors – especially in a crisis
Joe Walsh, Founder of Supply Chain Sherpas & SMI strategist who facilitated the sessions said, “Listening to the supply chain leaders from SMI share stories from these past few months was both informative and inspirational. We realized through our discussions that the healthcare supply chain industry has an opportunity to drive meaningful, transformational change based on COVID-19 learnings. Through these 6 themes identified from our most respected industry leaders, we can create an improved and more resilient supply chain to be prepared for what transpires next.”
Alan Mavis, Director, Integrated Delivery Networks from Baxter Healthcare Corporation and SMI member said, “Flexibility and rapid decision making were critical factors in the initial wave of the pandemic. Our learnings from COVID-19 are bringing greater collaboration, increased communication and new ways of doing business forward so that we can continue improving and protecting the healthcare supply chain.”
SMI members will focus on these six key themes over the coming months to develop strategies and tools to drive transformation. SMI has already developed an executive briefing available on the SMI website at www.smisupplychain.com/tools along with 30 other tools and solutions, free of charge to the industry.
