EMEA Remote Inventory team enhancing the customer experience

Our Remote Inventory team at the Europe, Middle East, and Africa Support Centre (EMEA SC) is one example of our Customer Support & Delivery (CSD) crews putting our vision into action, focusing on supply chain efficiency. The team has been in place, under various department names, for approximately 15 years.

A team of seven, Remote Inventory tracks and maintains accurate records of all Cook products shipped as remote inventory, which is Cook-owned product that is sent without an invoice to our customers and field-based employees. It remains Cook property until it is sold to the end customer. This kind of inventory is placed as a specific order type in our system (consignment, rep stock, emergency rep stock, procedure pack, and use-or-return). This order type is displayed on on all customer facing documentation for the order.

We have an agreement in place with the hospitals that receive remote inventory in which they receive these products knowing that if they use them, they must pay for them. To control this, we have the field based reps completing quarterly stock counts at the hospital, so we can ensure our stock quantities are correct. If products have been used and the customer has not provided an invoice, the rep will contact the Procurement department and they will issue an invoice.

To help the reps manage all this stock, Cook designed the Cook Scan app which works on their iPhones. The reps send us the excel output of these scans so that we can update our stock system with what is physically at the hospital. We then advise them if the stock matches and, if not, the reps are informed of the discrepancies.

The Remote Inventory team drives regular stock audits, eliminates expired items, removes nonrotating products, and records over-stocked inventory. The team supports field-based employees and provides customer support relating to remote inventory.

The Remote Inventory team also ensures full lot traceability is consistently maintained in accordance to Cook’s high-quality standards. Full traceability, or visibility at all times, allows us to know where our products are located and if they are used or implanted in a patient.

While acting in full compliance with Quality Management Systems and regulatory auditing bodies, the team performs continuous stock verification as well as central management and maintenance of consignment contracts.

The Remote Inventory team is one of the many important units supporting our field representatives and CSD employees in EMEA.

Front row, from left: Sarah Scanlan, Lizzy Kiely, and Aoife Sheils.  Back row, from left: Angela Dunworth, Maria Ryan, Eugenia Mangan, and Maria Herrara.