New distribution locations in Nevada and Mississippi to integrate emerging technologies into supply chain operations

DHL Supply Chain, a provider in contract logistics and part of Deutsche Post DHL Group, has assumed logistics management responsibilities for Avanos Medical’s U.S. distribution network. Avanos Medical, Inc. (NYSE: AVNS) is a medical device company delivering clinically superior solutions that improve quality of life and help patients get back to the things that matter.

The road to a new distribution network began in 2018, when Avanos began its transformation into a pure-play medical device company. Avanos found its ideal partner in DHL Supply Chain, the largest 3PL to the Life Science & Healthcare industry, with its proven healthcare experience, unmatched operational excellence, and track record of leading innovation through a culture of continuous improvement. DHL Supply Chain’s ability to optimize the network and deploy proven, productivity-enhancing technology quickly has allowed Avanos to achieve greater productivity and maximize warehouse storage utilization for a wide range of medical devices.

DHL’s solution leveraged 65,000 square feet of an existing multi-client facility in Las Vegas, Nev. and a new 129,000-square-foot dedicated site in Southaven, Miss. The new sites meet the strict quality assurance and regulatory requirements of medical devices to include duly licensed and temperature-controlled storage. Key to Avanos’ 2019 strategy, a compressed and accelerated implementation schedule was necessary to avoid potential conflicts with a parallel global ERP implementation. Both sites were implemented within eight weeks of each other and nearly four months ahead of schedule.

“This was only possible through the close operating partnership that has developed between our companies,” said Joe Vidricksen, Vice President of Supply Chain for Avanos Medical, Inc. “We partnered with DHL Supply Chain because of their proven ability to provide greater efficiency, cost certainty, and enhanced customer service across our supply chain. Through their network and process design expertise, we are able to deploy several new and emerging technologies, which help us do what we really care about, providing life-saving products to our customers and their patients. DHL Supply Chain and Avanos have set a benchmark for partnerships between third-party logistics and medical device companies.”

“Our extensive experience in implementing solutions for Life Science & Healthcare customers and partnerships with emerging technology providers put us in a unique position to quickly deliver proven, productivity-enhancing solutions and data-driven insight to our customers,” said Scott Cubbler, President of Life Sciences & Healthcare at DHL Supply Chain. “We are excited to help Avanos deliver consistently high customer service levels and unprecedented efficiency through our innovative storage solution and vision-assisted picking technology. These solutions maximize the available capacity of the distribution footprint, enable growth, and speed up the picking process while ensuring accuracy.”