A more reliable supply chain for suture-endo supplies

A lot has happened affecting the healthcare supply chain since Medline finalized our acquisition of Suture Express in November 2019: the pandemic, weather events and other supply disruptions. Yet both companies still seized upon an opportunity to minimize vulnerabilities in the healthcare supply chain and move suture and endomechanical products closer to the customer.

What we’ve come up with is “Suture Express by Medline,” a new offering designed to create an even more reliable supply chain for suture and endomechanical products, consistent with our long-held philosophy of keeping the customer at the center of our thoughts and actions.

“We’ve added more than $200 million in suture-endo inventory to the Medline distribution network,” says Jason Pedaci, senior director of sales and logistics for Medline. “By investing in this inventory, Medline will offer fill rates comparable to what customers have come to expect from Suture Express, and customers will be closer to the SKUs they buy.”

Ninety-two to 96 percent of Suture Express inventory will be stocked in our distribution network throughout the United States, Pedaci explains. The remaining 4 to 8 percent of less frequently ordered products will be available through a hub located outside of Louisville, Kentucky. Here is what this means specifically to customers:

• If Medline and Suture Express are primary distributors: Customers will order and receive their suture and endo products the same way they always do, only they’ll do so from their local Medline branch; low-volume products not stocked locally will be shipped overnight via FedEx from the Suture Express hub in Louisville.
• If Medline is not the primary distributor: Medline will “lift and shift” Suture Express accounts, integrating them into its own operations model. “Customers who do not use Medline as a primary distributor but still rely on the company for medical supply products will now also have access to Suture Express products,” Pedaci says.

And that’s not all. We are adding Suture Express products to our Suture and Endo Advanced Logistics (SEAL) program, which offers onsite expertise to IDNs and health systems in large metropolitan areas.

“What we’re offering is the best of both worlds,” Pedaci says. “We can continue to offer customers fill rates as high as 99+ percent across 6,000 core and non-core surgical SKUs, and we can do so more reliably than ever before.”