Tri-party event unites medical purchasing and supply chain professionals

8th August 2013

A seminar questioning whether supply chain replenishment processes can have a negative impact on procurement performance has been organised by a unique three party alliance.

‘Are you ruining your suppliers’ performance?’ is a Medilink event in partnership with CIPS (Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply) and in association with specialist medical consultancy, Lime Associates.

Keynote speaker, Simon Eagle from Demand Driven Supply Chains, will address the audience on topical medical purchasing and supply chain issues including why ‘forecast push’ destroys supplier performance, how demand driven supply chains work and how demand driven replenishment can help your company reduce procurement spend.

Simon’s supply chain management experience covers both medical devices and generic pharmaceuticals. He has deep subject matter expertise in the area of ‘Demand Driven Planning & Replenishment’ (DDPR) having successfully piloted ‘demand pull’ at Smith & Nephew, designed and configured ERP to support it and having shared experience and knowledge with Professor Stephen Disney (Cardiff Business School), one of the world’s leading authorities on Supply Chain Dynamics or “bullwhip”.

A round-table discussion on the subject of ‘How can Procurement influence our company’s supply chain operating model?’ will follow and the event concludes with networking and refreshments.

The free event, funded by the Healthcare & Bioscience iNet – a project.part funded by ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) and hosted at Medilink’s headquarters at BioCity in Nottingham, is aimed at purchasing and supply chain professionals within the medical industry and is the first time that the three bodies have worked together to put on such an event.

Lime Associates’ Lee Robinson, founder member and chairman of the CIPS Health Technology Special Interest Group, explained how the collaboration came about; “ I established the CIPS Health Technology Special Interest Group to bring together purchasing professionals and help to promote purchasing and supply chain excellence in the highly regulated healthcare and medical industry, so it made perfect sense to bring CIPS and Medilink together for the first time ever to bridge the gap between Medical and Purchasing.”

Of the alliance, Darren Clark, CEO of Medilink EM, said; “This is a great initiative and a perfect way to share best practice between purchasing and supply chain professionals in medical and healthcare companies. We’re confident that it will be very successful and the first of a series of similar knowledge transfer events.”

The event takes place on Tuesday 15 October, 2013 in the Conference Hall at BioCity, Nottingham. For more information and to book, please click here

CIPS is an international organisation serving the purchasing and supply profession. Dedicated to promoting good practice, CIPS provides a wide range of services for the benefit of members and the wider business community.

Medilink EM is the East Midlands life science industry association, whose aim is to help companies establish, develop and grow. Medilink EM is a founding member of Medilink UK; a national network supporting over 3,000 companies across the entire UK.