Acclimation scores SAP S/4HANA deployment with medical device distributor LifeHealthcare

Melbourne-based IT consultancy Acclimation has been tapped by Australian medical device distributor LifeHealthcare to implement SAP S/4HANA across its operations.

LifeHealthcare sought to replace its legacy ERP with S/4HANA to facilitate more intelligent and streamlined inventory management while also supporting LifeHealthcare’s prospective growth opportunities.

“LifeHealthcare’s legacy ERP solution was highly customised and outdated, requiring daily fixes and maintenance,” LifeHealthcare chief financial and operating officer David Bonham said.

“The company went to market to find the best-of-breed ERP solution to support medical device distribution and management. In addition, LifeHealthcare sought a highly leverageable tier one solution that would support its expansion, and importantly, integrate with mymediset.”

With the legacy ERP, LifeHealthcare said it was operating without a standardised method for serialising and batching its kits, making the tracking labour-intensive.

The implementation of S/4HANA with mymediset improved LifeHealthcare’s data and asset tracking capabilities, as well as the ability to analyse and standardise kits nationally.

“With the new solution, hospitals and surgeons can have surgical kits replenished directly through mymediset, which automatically updates the SAP S/4HANA system for inventory and asset tracking, including creating billing documents,” Bonham said.

“LifeHealthcare’s mobile surgical support teams are able to book surgical kits and record consumption on the mymediset iPhone app whilst at the hospital to directly update SAP in real time.”

Bonham added Acclimation also handled the direct integration of the SAP embedded extended warehouse management (EWM) system to LifeHealthcare’s warehouse automation system which streamlined order picking.

“This allows LifeHealthcare to maintain a more holistic view of its kit inventory for improved customer service, more streamlined stock ordering, distribution and tracking, and better overall visibility and measurement of its working capital,” he said.

Speaking on the project, Acclimation managing director Rob Taubman said, “Acclimation worked closely with LifeHealthcare and mymediset to successfully implement SAP S/4HANA.”

“The solution has resulted in improved efficiencies across the organisation with manual inventory processes brought down from hours to minutes, and reducing errors through automation.”