Health distributors grapple with medical supply shortages | Cardinal Health increases fiscal Q3 revenue despite loss | Ryerson sees big Q1 profit gains
Shortages of medical equipment, supplies and pharmaceuticals are affecting operations at health facilities across the country, according to executives at Owens & Minor and Medline. Owens & Minor executive Jeff Jochims says many hospitals have 10 times the normal amount of items on back order.
Cardinal Health reported a loss of $1.39 billion in its fiscal third quarter against a profit of $119 million a year earlier. However, revenue grew to $44.84 billion from $39.28 billion.
Ryerson earned $163.6 million on revenue of $1.75 billion in the first quarter, compared with a $25.3 million profit on $1.15 billion in revenue a year earlier. The company attributed the growth, in part, to North American demand.
Just the Facts, Ma'am "I stopped watching TV news a year ago, so sick of the bias everywhere. But in doing so, I was out of the loop. I decided to give 1440 a try & I've not been disappointed. Finally, Walter Cronkite style reporting! Just the facts. I also love that I can click a link to see more on many stories. Keep up the good work!" Join for free now.
Warehouse and fulfillment operations will continue to want more autonomous mobile robots due to their ease of use, flexibility and reliability, says Fergal Glynn of 6 River Systems. However, Saif Sabti of SSI Schaefer and Erik Nieves of Plus One Robotics say that collaborative robots have a ways to go before they can be more widely adapted.
Digital sales expert Elissa Nauful suggests that being especially thorough on the front end of the sales process can help speed up the back end, as does addressing potential objections early. The fewer surprises, the better, Nauful writes, and the teams who are good at moving quickly have a better shot at converting prospects to customers.
More business-to-business buyers want to make purchases without interacting with salespeople, so distributors should embed field sales staff at different places along the hybrid-purchasing journey where issues may arise, says Maria Boulden of Gartner. "[Y]ou know your value chain and your buying behavior so well that you anticipate where they're going to get stuck or find that friction; you know exactly how to make it go away," Boulden says.
"Strategy is not magic," writes Richard Rumelt, professor emeritus at UCLA Anderson School of Management, who outlines what successful strategies have in common. "The skilled strategist recognizes the heart of a challenge as the thing blocking an easy solution," Rumelt writes.
If you are looking for insights on creating and building your marketplace strategy, NAW offers this free webinar for distribution leaders on Marketplace Disruption and Strategic Response on Thursday, May 12, 2022. You will hear from Ian Heller, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Distribution Strategy Group, and Alex Moazed, founder and CEO of Applico. These two Thought Leaders along with a panel of distributors, will discuss their own marketplace strategies and share the business decisions that led to their specific strategies. Be sure to register today!
The NAW Billion Dollar Company Roundtables are an exclusive community of thought leaders from Billion Dollar distribution enterprises who congregate to network with non-competing peers in multiple lines of trade on key issues. The companies invited into this community are from distribution firms at or above $1 billion in annual sales. Register today!
