Fastest Delivery for Sensitive Spare Parts

News Item Entered: Monday, May 12, 2003

Availability of spare parts and fastest possible delivery are crucial success factors to many industries, especially the sensitive health care sector. Siemens Medical Solutions (www.siemensmedical.com) uses Schenker’s Integrated Logistics Center in Singapore to ensure parts supply throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

“Our commitment is to achieve an order fulfillment rate of approximately 90% for all critical parts,” says Georg Krützfeld, CEO Material Logistics, Siemens AG, Medical Solutions. And Markus Holzner, Siemens Project Leader of 'Asia Express Center', points out that “we are constantly reviewing the demand and market requirements to make sure the target will be met. Currently, our warehouse for medical spare parts at Schenker Singapore has an inventory of about 2,000 part numbers representing some USD 8 million.”

Siemens and Schenker have established an IT interface between the Siemens SAP system and Schenker’s warehouse management system, facilitating permanent online order processing. The goods are picked and packed within 30 minutes. Schenker uses barcode scanning to identify products and capture serial numbers.

Singapore is the logistics hub with the highest flight frequency within the region. Schenker handles the overnight deliveries to Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore within the own airfreight network. For other destinations, a courier service is being used.

Schenker’s 24/7 emergency service ensures order processing, pick & pack and deliveries on weekends and public holidays.

“For Siemens, our solution means better after-sales service, reliability and faster delivery in the Asia-Pacific region. Since we are talking about spare parts for life saving medical equipment, there is zero tolerance for errors,” states Thorsten Kipp, Manager Regional Logistics Projects Schenker Asia Pacific.

Siemens Medical Solutions (Med) is one of the largest suppliers of healthcare equipment in the world. Med is renowned for its innovative products, services and complete solutions, ranging from imaging systems for diagnosis and therapy equipment for treatment, to electromedicine and hearing instruments to IT solutions that optimize workflow and increase efficiency in hospitals, clinics and doctors' offices.

With annual sales of Euro 6.4 billion, 35,000 employees and about 1,100 offices around the world, the Stinnes subsidiary Schenker is one of the world's leading providers of integrated logistics services, offering land transport, air and sea freight as well as comprehensive logistics solutions and global supply chain management from a single source. Stinnes is a Deutsche Bahn AG company.