All goods and services in HSC are now ordered using an electronic requisitioning and ordering system. This system enables authorised HSC staff to log in, select items from an online catalogue and place orders from that catalogue through a fully electronic authorisation and ordering process.
At present the online catalogue contains approximately 250,000 unique product lines and where an item isn’t in the catalogue, our new system allows officers to create a “free text” requisition and send it to one of our buyers for ordering.
What is Electronic Materials Management (EMM)?
- Electronic Materials Management can be defined as – “the electronic management and control of goods from acquisition to delivery at point of use.”
- EMM is a system which we developed with our customers and introduced into wards/departments to make best use of space and simplify and automate re-ordering of goods by product bar-coding scanning.
- EMM utilises a “two bin” system to control stock and simplify replenishment with Procurement and Logistics Service staff ordering goods on behalf of nursing staff thus reducing their time to nurse patients.
What are the benefits of EMM?
To our customers
• Better use of limited storage space
• Ensures stock rotation which helps minimise wastage due to out of date products
• Paperless ordering
• Shorter lead time from order to delivery of goods
• Automatic authorisation due to pre-agreed re-order quantity levels
• Product bar-code labelling removes the possibility of ordering the wrong items
• Less money tied up stock held at department/ward level
• Releasing nurses time to nurse
To ourselves (Procurement and Logistics Service)
• Smoother product demand patterns which helps stock holding quantities and improve service levels
• Less returns to store for product incorrectly ordered
• No time required checking requisitions for approval and product code queries