One for all:
the new central warehouse
The new central warehouse in Bad Oldesloe is unique for the sector in Germany in terms of its dimensions and equipment and will manage logistics for Asklepios’s roughly 170 healthcare facilities. It guarantees sufficient inventories of materials for medical supplies. This means that even in the event of supply chain problems, a reliable supply is ensured for several months. At the same time, it is characterised by a very high level of digitalisation and automation. The dimensions of the centre, which was opened in October 2022, means that it will also be able to supply other operators’ hospitals with materials of all kinds in the future.
For fire safety reasons, an oxygen reduction system has been installed in the high-bay storage area, which will hold around 3,000 different products in pallets. This means that sprinkler systems are no longer required, as not even a lighter would burn there. By way of comparison, the oxygen concentration in the warehouse is roughly equivalent to that at an altitude of 2,500 metres in the mountains.
“We deliberately created a learning system,” says Janis Gadanac, head of the Group’s Procurement & Supply department. “The facility recognises which products are frequently requested and in what quantities. Accordingly, the system sorts the goods so that things that are needed frequently are right at the front.”
A fully automated conveyor system combines all work areas, from receipt of the goods to high-bay storage to order picking. The latter also features a “pick-by-light” system: Using electronic display panels on each individual rack, employees can see based on the colours which products to take in what quantities and which order to assign these to. At the end, the order rolls off the conveyor belt ready for dispatch.
Finally, all processed orders are transported along the conveyor system to the goods issuing area. Here, the system automatically performs a weight control to check whether all the required products have found their way into the transportation boxes in the right quantities. By storing a larger product portfolio and by processing and carrying out order picking for individual continuously required items, the number of small deliveries or individual deliveries to the hospitals can be reduced significantly.
As soon as surgical masks, cannulas or bandages start running out at the hospitals, these materials can simply be reordered from the central warehouse. In the future, however, it is not only Asklepios’s own hospitals that will benefit from the warehouse, but also external hospitals, medical centres and large practices.
The central warehouse is designed to be able to cover double the Asklepios Group’s requirements. Dimensions on this scale ensure not only a more reliable supply for Asklepios’s hospitals, but also make it possible to develop new, centralised procurement strategies.
»Our model for success is digitalisation along the entire process chain: operational procurement, strategic procurement and, behind it all, logistics.«
Once the product has reached the hospital and the patients, the underlying logistics fade into the background. However, this process taking place far from the patients has a huge influence on medical quality and treatment of the patients and is guaranteed by the highly reliable supply from the central warehouse.
Pooled, digital and centralised procurement helps harmonise and standardise the products used, ensures that the quality requirements are met and secures the supply of products to Asklepios’s hospitals.
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