UNITED UROLOGY GROUP
“ Over time we acquired additional practices and when you grow you need to scale-up your staff ”
DAVID FORBES VP SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT , UNITED UROLOGY GROUP
But as with any sizable change project , there are hurdles to clear and barriers to break down .
“ You ’ ve got to be sure that you choose the right solutions in the first place ,” he says . “ But you also need to ensure you ' re then using these solutions correctly .”
Data is a massive issue , as it is with so many digital transformations .
“ Organising data around category management is a massive issue in supply chain in general ,” says Forbes , who reveals that he and his team procure more than 200 categories of products and services .
He adds : “ We have to make sure that our data is structured in a way that allows us to mine it , so that we can have efficient request-for-proposals , without which we cannot manage our contracts .
UUG ’ s new procurement programme “ is fully built out ” says Forbes , who adds that it has made a huge difference to the company ’ s procurement and sourcing processes .
“ When I first started , it was taking us upwards of eight days to reconcile inventory at the end of the month , but this past month , we did it all in a single day . All counted , all reconciled .”
He says that , although the procurement transformation was tough at first , it has been “ a caveman-discovering-fire moment ”.
“ We are now able to intelligently manage inventory levels , and drive a formulary of products . We used to get complaints from vendors about not being paid , but now we now have steadfast processes in place that ensure prompt payment . We ’ ve gone from taking 57 days to process an invoice to about 10 days .” manufacturingdigital . com 67