UPS announces the expansion of its medical device field stocking locations (FSLs) in Europe, to reduce delivery time and increase inventory visibility.
The announcement follows the 2014 launch of a fully healthcare-compliant network of medical device FSLs in the US. With this Europe expansion, UPS has strengthened its global network, allowing customers the ability to store devices closer to hospital settings when time is of utmost importance. All of UPS’s facilities are enabled by industry-leading quality assurance and compliance programmes, and fully integrated into UPS’s global transportation network
“A significant portion of medical devices are routinely stored in the trunks of field sales representatives’ vehicles, or what’s called in the industry ‘trunk stock,’” said Jan Denecker, Director of healthcare marketing and strategy, UPS Europe. “This leads to inflated inventories with little to no visibility and less than optimal storage conditions. UPS’s FSL network helps solve these challenges for medical device manufacturers.”
This marks the latest in a series of recent UPS expansions in Europe, including acquisitions of specialized healthcare logistics provider Poltraf in Poland and Polar Speed in the UK. UPS also opened a regulatory compliant and temperature-controlled air freight forwarding facility at Amsterdam’s Schiphol International Airport, and expanded its European healthcare distribution campus in Roermond.
Source: UPS
